Under the Rainbow: Rainbow Six Siege SYOC
by Mister Bombastic
Summary: Terror spreads through the world, and there's nothing to stop it. There lies an organization that stands as a hope against this terror, people from all over the world are willing to lay down their lives for safety and justice. A man joins in, and battles his own terrors as others battle against evil. They're called Team Rainbow. Rainbow 6 Siege SYOC/OC Submission!
1. Introduction: 1

The landing of the jet hardly made a troubling or noticeable difference to the firstclass area of the passengers. An early middle-aged man stared passively outside the window as he stirred a glass of water in his hand a bit bored. The scenery wasn't very different than the one he had left: an urban gray and black that contrasted with the sporadic green of grass and trees. He shot his arm out and checked his watch.

 _10:30, I'm a bit early_. He thought to himself, finishing off the glass of water in his hand. A stewardess came by soon after and offered him a refill or another drink. The man politely declined and she went off to serve another upper class yuppy. He peered away again to see the plan finally come to a full stop, the shiny windows of the airport glaring at all who dare to see. A sigh escaped his lips, the thick accent of the captain's voice starting over the intercom.

"Hello this is your captain speaking, we've landed in the London National airport. The weather partly cloudy, a fine fifteen and a half degrees Celsius. The breeze is easy, just heading at five miles northwest with a crisp feel to it. The traffic is moderate but foot traffic is heavy. Again this is the captain speaking and I wish you all a happy visit to London." The intercom buzzed out. The stewardesses chimed in after, everyone already getting ready to finally get off the hunk of metal and as He tried to get his luggage out.

"We here at London Airlines thank you for choosing us as your prime flying choice, Have a wonderful visit!" He rolled his eyes at the stewardess when he heard her. She didn't mean any of it, obviously, the man deducted that she was probably a single woman--no ring on her finger and cheap jewelry on her neck--who used the bathroom as an excuse to smoke her stress away. Probably a single child, raised in separate households, and an underachiever at best, explaining her faked demeanor. But when he walked towards her as he got off the plane, she gave him a plastic smile. He gave her a formal nod and a smile as well.

Reading people came easy to him, after all, it was a key tool to his job.

But Isaac Meza had little to care for her personal life, as long as she lived a safe and secure one. He stepped out of the plane and into the airport in a few moment, a sigh leaving his mouth. He shot up his watch again. _10:38_.

That means he had time to grab something to eat. He visited a small donut kiosk just right in the center of the airport, ordered a box full, and left after paying. He ventured outside and sat at a bench waiting for the pickup to Hereford Base.

Minutes passed, Isaac took a donut out of the box, taking a bite as he checked his watch. _10:48. Maybe they're getting a little lazy._

The time passed slowly before the car finally arrived. All black, sleek and polished to a fine degree. The windows were darker and tinted than usual, and the license plate was gone. The window rolled down and exposed a matured, stubbled man with a thick accent. He gave a stare at Isaac. "When the whole country's end seems so nigh…"

"There's always a rainbow in the sky."

The man nodded and opened the door, Isaac walking to the car. "Why thanks for the ride stranger."

"Yeah yeah, just shut up get in the bloody car." He said. "We got a real days work ahead of us."

Isaac smiled as he sat down and made himself comfortable. "Well, that's why they hire men like us."

The man chuckled as he started his car. "Welcome to Team Rainbow."

 **A/N: Another story for you guys, based on the game of Rainbow Six Siege. I'm going to need 4 Operator OC's for this, so please be weary I won't accept all that are sent through! Here's the app, send through PM only please!**

 **Basics**

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Nickname/Callsign:

Ethnicity:

Country:

Special Forces/CTU they belong to from said country:

Biography:

 **Physical**

Height:

Weight:

Hair color:

Hairstyle:

Facial Hair: (If any)

Eye color:

Race:

Skin Tone:

Marks/Tattoos:

 **Personality**

Personality:

Mannerisms:

Motivations:

Hobbies:

Strengths: (2 Personality and 1 physical)

Flaws: (2 personality and 1 physical)

Equipment

Uniform: (Be as descriptive as you want)

Primary Weapon: (1 rifle/carbine/SMG and 1 shotgun)

Secondary Weapon: (pistols only)

Gadget 1:

Gadget 2: (optional)

Main gadget: (much likes all the operators have special gadgets and abilities, choose one for your operator)

 **Miscellaneous**

Romance? Y/N:

If yes, would you want it to be another Operator from the game?:

If so who?:

Family:

Hobbies:

Anything else?:

 **That's it, when you submit, title the subject "Rainbow Six OC" and place somewhere in the app "Rainbows in the sky."**

 **Have fun!**

 **-Mister Bombastic**


	2. Introduction: 2

The car ride was a long one from what Isaac had read ahead. Hereford was all the way in the country, away from the sprawling metropolis of London and southern England. The driver didn't say a word and just left the radio on subtly playing some strange indie song that Isaac couldn't get into. The man cleared his throat. "I wasn't briefed on your arrival, Mr. Meza, it's quite a shock to find out that the CIA were getting involved in Rainbow's affairs."

"I know who you are Thatcher, I've read your files. Please, call me Isaac," Isaac said, "The CIA isn't getting totally involved, I'm here as a new member of the team. My connection with the CIA are simply some concerns of theirs when I discuss it with the team at my arrival."

"Well since you already know my name, Just call me Thatcher. I'm nearly the oldest one at Rainbow. Call me grandpa if you like." Thatcher chuckled. Then he raised an eyebrow. "Discuss?"

"Are you not holding a meeting for my arrival?"

Thatcher sighed, and cursed under his breath. "Ah shit, you're CIA. You're all about formality and punctuality."

Isaac chuckled softly. "I'm afraid I've been in the office for too long. It's been a while since I've been in the field."

Thatcher chuckled as well. "Well, you'll see plenty of action here kid."

Another two hours had passed between the two. The men didn't talk much except for mostly icebreakers and casual observations, a trait that Isaac knew too well. He figured that Thatcher was a hardened man, bordering on cynicism from years of service to the U.K. And the world, it didn't take a dossier of info to figure that out. Though the fact that he had a bleak view on world affairs, his moral conviction still held true. Isaac realized that when he had talked about joining Rainbow for the first time.

"It's been a good job," Thatcher started. "When I was with the SAS we were too restricted by rules to truly help those who needed it. With Rainbow, we can actually stop these bastards dead in their tracks."

"Yes, these White Masks are worrying. The agency still doesn't have any defining leads on what they pose to the world, or who and where they originated from."

Thatcher smirked. "Guess it's up to us to save the world, right."

"Right." Isaac cleared his throat.

The two stayed silent as they started to pass through the towns and villages of the country. Lush green grass, gray overcasts, and smalls rays of scattered sunshine strew about. It was quite enchanting, Isaac thought. The road began to slowly morph from thick concrete to simple paved streets, the green lush turning into scattered trees and wooden houses that gave a cozy peaceful feeling to the atmosphere. "Here we are, Hereford: Home of Rainbow. Another five minutes 'till we actually get to base."

"Very quaint, inconspicuous." Isaac commented, admiring the old village.

"Yeah, gunshots from base wake up the people living around us though. We get the complaint from townsfolk every now and then." Thatcher replied. "Ah, red light. Lemme call the boys and tell them to have everyone meet in the Planning room."

"I read that no one is on a mission, so that's means a full house. You think these donuts will be enough?" Isaac said, holding up the box he had acquired at the airport.

"Eh, I would say yes." Thatcher said. He brought out a cheap looking smartphone, an off-brand label Isaac had never heard off before. "Oi, Seamus, get everyone to the Planning room. We've got a meeting with the new guy."

Isaac heard some indecipherable speak in the phone. "No, he's CIA. Yeah yeah, I don't care, just get everyone in the same room."

Thatcher hung up and put down his phone. The green light shone and Thatcher started forward. "Everyone should be gathering up Isaac, you can have your meeting now."

Isaac smirked. "Thanks Thatcher, I hope that these members are as eccentric as their files say they are."

"Oh yeah?" Thatcher said. "How can you describe our crew?"

"Colorful, like a rainbow." Isaac laughed. Thatcher didn't say anything, but judging from his facial expression it aged him more. "Oh c'mon, that was funny."

The car finally stopped at a parking lot outside a fenced complex somewhat distant from the town nearby. It wasn't marked with any insignia or logos, except for a Union Jack flag waving above some other flags. US, Germany, Russia, and Spain to name a few. Thatcher opened the door. "Alright, we're here."

Isaac opened his door and took out his things and placed them on the hood. "I expected a smaller place." He placed his hands on his hips. "Blacksites are usually much more smaller."

"Hey, we get our own rooms so I'm not complaining." Thatcher replied. He pointed towards a building on the right. "That is the training grounds. We do whatever; hold training exercises, workout, weapons testing, shoot, fuck around or whatever these bloody kids do on their free time. The center building our main one, rooms are located there, as well as our planning room and armory. The building in the right is the garage. Helicopters and trucks are stored there."

He began walking ahead, Isaac quickly grabbed his things and followed after. "Do you know about the other new members following in?"

"Yeah, Six told us earlier the week, should be expecting them soon. Another Canuck is coming in, and we had a couple of boys from the SAS come in already." Thatcher said. He stopped in his steps and turned to Isaac. "They're not gonna be happy about CIA interference, the team I mean."

"I'll explain in it the meeting." He held up the box of donuts. "Hope these would appease them a little, people are less hostile when good is presented. A trait from our cavemen ancestors I suppose."

Thatcher smirked and chuckled at the remark. "Let's hope they evolved pass that phase while we were gone."

The two shared a laugh as they entered the building, hit by the air conditioning and heavy fluorescent lights of above. The building entrance had men and women dressed in casual business clothes filing papers, typing on computers and scurrying across the room. Thatcher nodded to a few of these people. "These are the people who do the paperwork, essentially running the show while we act."

"Nice theater analogy." Isaac commented.

"Thanks."

They made pass the short waves of cubicles and desks to the blank, gray hallway. "Follow me." Thatcher motioned, as they turned a few corners and halls to the door with ease. They finally made it to a barricaded, metal door with a plaque that simply said 'Planning Room'. He could hear the muffling and soft giggles of the operators that made up Rainbow. He pried into the noise, listening to conversations they held. Thatcher snapped him out of it. "They're inside, waiting on you."

Isaac nodded and opened the door and entered the cooled room and saw the wave of faces who suddenly stopped talking and focused all their attention to the man. Men and women of different nationalities and ethnicities stared with cautious eyes. Isaac cleared his throat, and headed to the front of the room and put down the box of donuts on the table. "Help yourselves, a little present before we get started."

Isaac's read all their files, he's seen all their dirty history with no sparing of the darkest parts. He knows what they can do and how they behave, and right now they're testing him. The largest man, with a shaved head and the hint of reddish stubble on his jaw was the first to break the silence and stillness. Seamus 'Sledge' Cowden never broke eye contact as he walked up to the table. His imposing figure was something that Isaac swear he'd see in a superhero movie as a goon. Sledge broker away from his eyes and reached for a plain chocolate donut, and made a small gesture towards Isaac with it.

"Thanks mate," the thick Scottish accent spoke out, "Didn't really have anything for breakfast."

Isaac knew first impressions were important. He kept himself cool the entire time, and replied back. "You're welcome. Please, feel free to take some." He gestured.

After Seamus sat down, a few others began to walk up to the table and pick off the remaining assortment. He recognized the few of them, most of the FBI and SAS members, a few of the GSG-9 members, and a few stragglers from the various other groups. After everyone settled down, Isaac cleared his voice and began.

"Everyone settled?" All nods.

"Good, because I want to get to the point." Isaac announced

"I am Paramilitary Officer Isaac Meza of the CIA SAD/SOG group. I recently decided to put my expertise into Rainbow at the request of myself and also bring a message from very high up in the Intelligence community. Rainbow is doing terrific in both results and intel, and the Pentagon feels to increase its budget."

Isaac started to walk around the area. "Ahead of time I've read all your files and I know virtually every detail of your past affiliations, history, and relationships between you and the rest of the team and/or family. Lemme tell you, Langley is _not_ happy with the current state of peer relationships. Whatever convictions or reasons to dislike or avoidance you have for another teammate based on professional or personal reasons is not an excuse." Isaac made contact with the green haired woman known as Ela. The intensity of her stare back nearly matched the heaviness of the air. He broke away and peered indiscriminately across the room. "You need to cut that shit out now or else you'll be blacklisted. Langley and the Pentagon have no time or money to waste on pathetic problems that you have, especially when it dangers the nature of the whole Rainbow organization itself. Do I make myself clear?"

The group remained silent, a few nods scattering around.

"Good to know. I wanted to get that out of the way first."

A hand raised up, belonging to Elias 'Blitz' Kötz. "Yes Mr. Kötz?"

"Does this mean that your gonna put cameras in the rooms to monitor our activities? I would show you what I did by myself if you asked nicely." The crowd snickered at the joke. Isaac smirked at it, a blast of air going through his nose.

"Look, I understand that what I said isn't what you want to hear from a newbie, but this is a prime concern from the higher ups, they don't want personal matters to intervene in missions and in morale." Isaac stated. "So please, if you have any more questions regarding me or the CIA, I'll be done playing CIA and become Newbie."

Blitz raised his hand again. "Where are you from Isaac?"

"I'm from California but was raised across Southern California. I was on the move a lot." He answered.

"Now let me ask you," Blitz continued, "Since you're CIA have you ever handled Aliens before? I want to know if that alien that probed me is gonna call me back."

This caused more laughs and snickering, even Isaac had to laugh at it. "Hehe, that was good. Now, any serious questions?"

Another hand raised up, the slender arm of Grace Nam, AKA 'Dokkaebi' ever so dressed in obnoxious nerdy getup. She had a smug grin on her face. "So mister serious, how do we know you aren't going to be watch by your friends in Langley? I wouldn't want to break into your phone and find out what you're doing."

"If I was here for the CIA, I wouldn't have told you I was from the CIA. If you want to tinker with my phone so much here." He placed his phone down on the table, and offered it to her. "There ya go, free of charge." Dokkaebi pondered for a moment, looking at the black rectangle but simply smiled at him, satisfied with the answer.

"The last thing I want all of you to do is question my motives or my loyalty. As of now, my loyalty lies with you who soon will be shoulder to shoulder with me in the field." Isaac added. He took out his bag and dug out a folder from the insides and tossed it casually on the table. "I trust all of you, so I hope you can trust me. There's my file for everyone to read, no detail unchecked"

The crowd didn't say anything. Another hand raised, the thick dark arm of Miles Campbell, or 'Castle' by the team. "Before you turn into the newbie, what does the CIA know about these White Masks. Getting real tired of cleaning up piles when we don't a single idea who they are."

Isaac shrugged. "The CIA aren't very close on a lead, but we do know their motives."

From this, everyone listened in.

"From what we gathered, these guys are misanthropists; just dregs of society who decided that no one's deserving of life and based themselves on anarchist and nihilist principles. They find themselves by extortion, gunrunning and narcotic selling. With the money they hire mercenaries and buy weapons and equipment to carry out their plans."

"So we're dealing with anarchists and misanthropes?" Castle replied.

"Essentially yes, but they do the planning. From the intel the CIA believes that most-if not all- of their armed forces are mercenaries. One body we identified from a mission was recognized as a former homeless Vietnam veteran, almost untraceable." Isaac finished off. "They recruit worldwide and align themselves with criminal syndicates, terrorists groups, and other lowly scum. It's our job to stop them from destroying civilization."

The room fell into a silence as Isaac wrapped up his meeting. "As such, we can't risk having petty squabbles amongst ourselves. I recommend to deal with them head-on during your own time before we do anything involving our mission. If you can't do this, I'll be forced to bring it up in front of everyone. That's all, I… hope you all enjoyed the donuts."

Thatcher quickly came to take the lead. "Alright everyone, that's it for now. Go back to whatever the hell you were doing and get on with the day."

The crowd began to rise from the seats and slowly made their way to the plain door. A few shook Isaac's hand, and Isaac shook back. He didn't expect himself to be popular, but it was nice to know he had some likeability within the group. When it came Ela's turn, she glared daggers at him before she left the room, an angry look of her face. Dokkaebi gave him a cute smile as she leaned in and took his phone. She held it in her hand as she glared its black screen. "So, free of charge?"

"Free of charge."

The Korean Operator slipped the phone into her pocket. She winked him goodbye as she left the room. After her, few people remained there, most of them now leaving. One of the stragglers, Ash, was quick to pick up his files. She gave Isaac a nod of approval and he replied the same. The last person sat in the chair all by their lonesome looked troubled. Isaac had recognized as Zofia, Ela's estranged sister. She waited until all the others left before she stood up, making her way quickly to the man.

"I didn't realize how obvious my relationship with my sister was." She quickly replied, a blush coming on. "Had I known-"

"Mrs. Bosack, I understand the effort you're putting into making qualms with Ela and how she's been cold towards it." Isaac said. "But if she keeps up this playground rivalry, I will get the team involved."

"It's best that they don't, the last thing I want is to everyone to pry into my affairs." Zofia replied

"I know, I wish I wouldn't do but if it resorts to that then I will take that action." Zofia didn't say anything, rubbing the back of her short hair.

"Yes, I understand. If I can, I'll try to get her to cooperate into at least talking about it."

Isaac smiled warmly and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Family is important Zofia, and Rainbow is your family. For now, just try to make Ela open up more."

"Thank you, I'll see you around Mr. Meza." Zofia nodded and exited the door. He was all by himself, Isaac collapsed into the chair and sighed as he rubbed his forehead. This was a new ballpark for him, he wouldn't believe that he was here five years ago but now, well, Isaac was here. A part of the notorious Team Rainbow.

What was he gonna do?

* * *

Isaac had been pleasantly surprised by the size of the room for a single person. A large number of furniture and things occupied the room, reminded him much like a dorm at a college. A bed occupied a wall corner as a small computer desk was a mere few feet away. Near the bed, a dresser that seemed slightly wider than the bed. A small couch laid in the center facing a twenty four flat-screen TV on a counter, and in between, a decent sized wooden coffee table. On the side of the room, a slide door closet, full of empty hangers and nothingness. There was quite the few appliances scattered around as well: like a mini fridge near the counter, an alarm clock on the dresser, a DVD player, a lamp on the desk, a fan on the table, and another reading lamp on the dresser.

Isaac threw his bags down on the bed as he splayed across the couch and stretched. He let out a sigh, closing his eyes for a moment and letting the stillness of the air take over. That was relaxing until a knock came on the door. He made a small groan as he got up and opened the door.

It revealed a fair skinned, decently built man with cropped blonde hair, a warm smile on his goateed face. His brown eyes shone in friendliness, a trait which Isaac hasn't seen when he got here. Isaac remembered who he was from the files, a new recruit about a few months back named Jon Taylor, or 'Cutter' as he was called. He held his hand out to shake Isaac's, which he shook as well. "Hiya, name's Jon, but you can call me Cutter. Well, I guess you already know that from all the files you've read."

"Yea, I know who you are Cutter." Isaac replied. "I know everyone's name."

"You do don't ya?" Cutter replied, his Welsh accent puzzling to Isaac's ears. "Well, I get how hard it is being the new guy, but eventually once you've proved your worth in the missions they'll welcome you in."

"Thanks for the sentiment Cutter, really appreciate it but I think I can manage."

Cutter shrugged. "Ah, well, if that's what you think. Most new recruits go through orientation the day after they arrive. We go to the training grounds with paintball guns and see how well we work."

"Didn't know we did that. Thanks for the heads up." Isaac smiled.

"Yeah it's no problem." The man replied. The clacking of boots slowly crept closer behind Cutter as he talked to Isaac some more, Dokkaebi leaned on the wall next to Cutter, waiting behind the man. "Seamus and I are gonna hit the local pubs, wanna come along?"

Isaac raised a brow. "It's only two in the afternoon."

"Doesn't mean we can't get a pint. C'mon it'll be-"

"Ahem." Dokkaebi interrupted Cutter. "Mind if I talk to him privately Cutter?"

"Huh? Sure thing Grace, was about to leave anyways." He shook hands with Isaac once more. "See you around Isaac."

"Same here Cutter." And with that, Cutter left. Dokkaebi waited casually until he left the hallway, pivoting herself to lean on the doorway to Isaac's room. She gave him a curtsy wave of her fingers, phone visible in her hand.

"Ah, my phone." Isaac said. "Done plaything with it?"

"Just about." Dokkaebi said, bringing the phone to her face. "I still can't believe your password is just your name."

Isaac simply shrugged. "Easy to remember."

Dokkaebi snorted and let out a dorky laugh. Obviously not her real laugh, just another trait of her fake nerdy persona she invented for herself. Isaac didn't understand why she let herself be this false image, but he figured it involved her own personal reasons. "You truly are something Isaac." She said, tossing the phone to him. He caught it effortlessly, placing it in his pocket. "I like your family photos, doesn't seem like you have a family of your own though…"

Isaac chuckled as he stood up. He crossed his arms and smirked at the Korean. "Are you proposing something Grace?"

She gave him another thin grin. "Just making an observation. _naneun honjaga neomu joh-a._ "

"The thing is," Isaac retorted, "it depends on if your alone by choice or by circumstance."

"Well, maybe someday we can be alone together, _someday_. In the meantime, enjoy yourself Isaac, after all what is loneliness without you?" She gave him the same smile as she did before, a teasing wink included before she leaned off the doorway and strutting away from his room. Isaac held the phone in his hand and fell into the couch, opening it up and going through his pictures. Nothing out of the ordinary except for a selfies that Dokkaebi had taken, peace sign and all. Some included other operators, others by herself. But Isaac didn't consider deleting them. In fact, Isaac had the pictures backed up. he simply turned it off and sighed, closing his eyes and thinking of what's to come tomorrow.

* * *

 **A/N: 3600 words, didn't expect to even make it this far in one day! It was at 400 words when I finished it yesterday. I guess because of the fluid nature of the characters and story I can write it easier idk.**

 **Introduced the first OC, Jon 'Cutter' Taylor by Old Man Griffin. Minor appearance for now, he'll make a larger one later. Also, take a gander at the poll on my profile for Sexapedes of the Wasteland, should have the newest chapter up by Saturday!**

 **Still accepting OC's! Would prefer non-SAS members! And also happy holidays and happy new year!**

 **-Mister Bombastic**


	3. Orientation: 1

The Common Room had an aura of casualness about it. It was a large room with several pieces of furniture strewn about it, either empty or occupied by the men and women of Rainbow. Some of the furniture included tables, couches, and a ping pong table for the discretion of the operators. Inside several operators of Rainbow read, played, or lounged around the couches and games available to them.

Eliza Cohen sat idly on a chair reading the files of SOG operative Isaac Meza, perusing the documents with a sense of surprise. Surprise that she didn't find anything out of the ordinary. Ash sighed and tossed the document to the table, in front of Jack ' _Pulse_ ' Estranada and Jordan ' _Thermite_ ' Trace, who played some video game on the TV. The sudden motion caused them to stop the game and observe the file for themselves.

"Ah, so you've finally finished his file," Thermite commented, putting away the controller and grabbing the folder. "What does it say?"

Ash shrugged. "Absolutely nothing. He joined the army, went to college, joined the army again, and became CIA."

Thermite opened the folder and scrolled past a few pages quickly. "Nothing? No personality disorders or anything?"

"Isaac can read people easy, and save for some minor occurrences of PTSD, he's totally fine. In fact, he's a pretty social guy; assertive, confident." Ash replied, putting her feet on the table.

Pulse took the folder from Thermite. "What about his family."

"Two immigrant parents, has a few brothers and sisters. All of sibling are married and have kids, he isn't." Ash replied. "No family of himself."

Thermite shook his head, sucking his teeth. "Shame, if he didn't have this job he probably would've been a good family man. Teaching is a decent job."

Ash spoke up. "Would've could've should've."

Pulse read through the folder. "He's probably hiding something. If all the files on us are this detail-encompassing as this they know all the dirt we have." He flipped through the pages.

"He seems to be focused on our relationships with each other." Thermite noted. "I mean I don't have any qualms with anyone here but it doesn't take a genius to see the tension. Especially between you and, ahem, Spanish company not present."

Ash shot Thermite an unpleasant look. "Whatever the reasons for his nosiness, it'll be a while before he gains most of our trust. The guy was CIA for crying out loud."

"I don't know if he's hiding anything at all." Pulse interjected. "When he was speaking up there I didn't see a hint of falsehood or deceptiveness. Guy seems alright to me. The fact that he gave his phone to Grace and took the time to read every single one of our files either says two things: He wants to improve us, or he wants to use us, and it doesn't seem like the latter."

Ash huffed and crossed her arms. Pulse tossed the dossier on the table. "We should see how he turns out tomorrow when he goes through orientation with the other new recruits."

"I'm sure it'll go swimmingly." Thermite commented, beating Pulse at the game they were playing. He bellowed a victorious laugh as Pulse started to argue with him in the rules of a video game fight. It seemed alright, until the yelling to started to begin. Ash rolled her eyes at their bickering trying to focus on the man named Isaac.

It wasn't long before Dokkaebi had entered the common room, dressed as obnoxiously as always with her laptop in hand. She stepped over the cables to the controllers of the video game console and plopped softly next to Ash's chair on the couch. She smiled and waved. "Hello Eliza!"

"Hello Grace." She replied, rolling her eyes at the bickering men. "Want to leave to another area less...inhabited?"

Dokkaebi giggled. "Oh, they aren't distracting at all, reminds me a lot of my childhood actually."

Ash sighed. "Then I'm glad I didn't have your childhood."

The Korean didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or insult. She cleared her throat. "I trust that the file was very collaborative on our search for who exactly Isaac Meza is?"

Ash picked up the folder. "As detailed as the CIA can be. Everything he did mission wise don't even have names, and info on them are drenched in black ink. We just got his personal life and history."

"And what did you find?"

"Not anything worth mentioning. He was a some low ranking grunt in the Army who just kept getting lucky and now he's here. Besides that, he doesn't have a family of his own, so I'm not really too keen on how he's in touch with his family."

Dokkaebi let out a small grin of pride as she opened her laptop, showing the schematics and all info that was in Isaac's phone. Various websites and window popped up, showing off the amount information she retrieved from a simple hour's work. "Oh, he tells them that he's fine and doing well every few months, from what I gathered on from his apps. He keeps them untraceable, using apps like Telegram and other proxy sites."

Ash leaned in closer to the laptop's display. "What else did it hold?"

"Mostly pictures from his travels, all scenery." Dokkaebi quickly tapped on the keyboard. "But look at this."

The screen showed various websites with all unrecognizable domains and links. Ash raised a brow in what it could mean, but Dokkaebi explained what she couldn't put together.

"He's been keeping tabs with the CIA since the airport. Last message to them was: 'Going to Hereford, ETA 3 hours at approx. 1:30 PM'. After that, nothing. No phone activity since he arrived here." Dokkaebi brought up another window, this time it revealed a small email from an unknown address at a secured private service. "Fortunately, I think that was his last contact with the CIA for the while. Read this."

Ash leaned in and read the email. A brow raised in surprise at what it offered.

' _Dear Isaac_

 _It was a pleasure to have you in the team for so long. It seems like yesterday you were barely getting done with an Op in the Army before I got to talk to you about joining. We support your decision to join Rainbow at the cost of leaving us, we don't hold any grudges or regrets at all. You were a wonderful Operator and a damn good friend. Needless to say Six is very happy with your transfer to Rainbow. hope the others at Rainbow will enjoy what you have to offer. Just remember you still have friends in the Agency and we're here to help._

 _-Deputy Director Jerod_

 _P.S. you still owe me that round of golf'_

Ash leaned back and pondered for a moment. Was Isaac actually just another Operator just looking for a place for asymmetrical people like him? Ash decided that maybe he was just another one of them. After all, he was just a grunt before he rose through the levels of rank, he knows what it's like to be in the trenches. She sighed. "Alright, if he was willing to do all of this, then he is trustable. We shouldn't treat him any different than the rest of us."

Thermite and Pulse had stopped bickering and read the email. "I never see why we would distrust him, he's just a good ol' fashion American kid."

"The problem was," Pulse pointed out, "he was CIA. Doesn't matter what branch of Military he was in, many of the operators here don't like CIA simply because they meddle too much in their groups affairs."

"He was just in their Special Operations Division. They basically do the same things as us. He is one of us, a simple SpecOp pulling the trigger." Thermite added.

"And they technically don't exist. These guys go beyond what most of us do. Hell there's almost no record of what they actually do." Pulse stood up. "Either way, it doesn't matter what he did or can do, just as long as he can carry us through a mission I'm fine with him. I'm gonna get a drink."

"I'll come with." Thermite said, quickly following suit. Dokkaebi and Ash remained on the couch. Ash was about to follow them before Dokkaebi had stopped her.

"Wait, I have something to show you." She guided Ash down back into her seat. She tapped away and brought up several windows, this time the domains and names more literate and not coded gibberish. She glanced at the names and immediately became surprised. Well, sort of.

"Dating websites?"

Dokkaebi giggled and brought her hands to her face, squeezing her cheeks. "I know! Isn't it adorable?" It explained the lack of family, Ash thought. Dokkaebi closed the windows and quickly looked around, seeing only a straggler in the room. Dokkaebi leaned in and whispered. "You wanna see what else he had on his phone hidden away?"

"I… rather not." Ash pushed away her laptop. She shivered, her mind already imagining the endless, horrid possibilities that could be hidden on it.

"Hmfph, I thought you can handle things Eliza." She teased, closing her laptop and letting out a contented sigh. "Anywho, his phone is completely clean, I've done my part. I'll be seeing you around." Dokkaebi packed her laptop, got up, and walked out the doorway. Ash sighed and picked up the dossier on the table and traced his name written on the side.

"We'll see how you do in orientation tomorrow Meza." She murmured, taking the files with her back to her room and out the Common Room.

* * *

John Nilsson hadn't been the one for flying, in his personal opinion. Especially if the flights from Vancouver to Birmingham was over twelve hours long, that was just something he didn't want to endure over and over. John was a patient man however, and he figured if he was gonna join Rainbow he'd ought to get use to it. He stretched in his seat, yawning, trying to get comfortable in the seat. First class might be more expensive, but the seats didn't seem to change.

His icy blue eyes saw the imminent beginnings of land for the first time in nine hours and sighed with relief. John was finally almost there, a few more hours until he's off this flying heap of metal.

The slight snoring next to him didn't help keep John's saint-like patience.

Next to John was another member of the JTF-2 who accepted the invitations to the ranks of Rainbow. The person sleeping was Ethan Yi, or Tundra as he's known for his liquid nitrogen traps, he recalled. He was quite a bit shorter than John, but John himself was a tall man, easily peaking at six-foot-three. Ethan seemed to be average height, and also somewhat slim. His hair was just like John's, high and tight. Though his was a bit longer than what John preferred and probably what regulation allowed.

There was few others in the First Class cabin that took up space. Mostly businessmen and women, traveling away for simple jobs or vacations, or returning home after a long day's travel. However there were some that differed from the rest of the pressed suits and dresses, more casual and easily changed if needed. Among one of these passengers across the JTF-2 members was another man dressed too casually to be located in First Class.

Jace Cylus formerly of the NCIS sat in his chair reading a newspaper by The Birmingham Post, the article explaining of a recent terror attack in JFK Airport in New York City. Had he remained in the Contingency Response Unit he surely would've had some involvement trying to stop or at least minimize the damage done by the attackers.

Nevertheless they couldn't be everywhere, and some attacks go on whether they stop one or the other. Jace sighed and rubbed his dark brown, high and tight-styled hair. He sat with his legs crossed, hazel eyes staring out the window at the forming land mass of the U.K. Thousands of feet below.

When Jace was accepted to Rainbow and told to start packing, he'd been told to meet with two members of the JTF-2 to save time and resources and board the same plane, so he travelled to Vancouver to arrive the same time as they do. Jace thought that was idiotic, but the Vancouver landscape was nice anyways.

Jace had heard about Rainbow through rumors. Whispers of an elite counterterrorism unit who recruited from all over the world, their operations blacker than black could be. It was rumored to be shut down but when he was offered to join, it disproved everything he heard about it.

Jace glared at his watch, thick gray clouds famous to the isle shrouded the windows. Still another two hours at the least until he made it to Birmingham, and then a two or three hour drive to Hereford.

The man shrugged. Jace had plenty of time to worry about getting there in time. He let out a sigh and stretched, grabbing the newspaper and opening up to a more lighthearted page, laying back on his seat and peacefully reading.

* * *

Isaac hadn't explored much of the building when he got here. Setting up some of his personal belongings took more time than he thought it would, but at least it meant having some clothes in the drawers and uniforms and equipment in the closet all except one small case that sat on top of his table.

In the small cases he had brought with him held his unique gadget, the GPTNVX-View,or simply X-Ray. Quad-designed goggles for panoramic view of his situation that projected the landscape in either infrared or night vision. The downside of such a device was its short battery life, range, and its immobility. In a long-term engagement, it would be more of a hassle and less of a necessity to have, but in the CQB missions Rainbow is famous for taking, it's the perfect device to track and find enemies through their defenses.

He supposed that he can test them out again when the orientation came tomorrow, which he heard from the whispers and small talk of the operators was a 'game', so to speak. A five versus five of attack and defend, with a single objective in mind. It ranged from a few options; from a hostage setting to simple sweep and clear.

He stretched in his desk, yawning greatly. He peered at the alarm clock's glaring red numbers feet away reading a commanding _6:30 PM_. Isaac sighed, one thing he can never get adjusted to was the jet lag.

I've got some time to kill, he thought, I'll just head over to the workshop.

He picked up the goggles case and escaped the dark room, closing the door behind him. He strolled down the corridors and turns of the hallways until he found himself in the building's staircase. There, next to the staircase written on the wall was WORKSHOP - BASEMENT.

Isaac climbed down the steps and entered the area for tinkering and designing new gadgets. The basement was wide and large, filled to the brim with testing areas, worktables, power tools, private desks, and the various metal and plastic parts used to craft such devices.

A few sporadic sounds of tools echoed around the shop, operators spending their time tinkering with their equipment. Isaac cleared his throat to himself and made his way through the basement, walking slow as to admire or simply peek at whatever they worked on.

Isaac recognized a few tools and gadgets used by the operators. He noticed a worn, blood dried, crunched leg trap, no doubt the work of Tina Lin Tsang. He strolled past to see a few more tables full of tools used in Ops. Fuze's cluster charge, Thatcher's EMP grenades, the ballistic shield for Blackbeard, and whoever else's toys lingered in the room. Isaac heard the sounds of whirs and slight scraping as he wondered closer to an occupied space.

He saw a short woman with black hair working on a sphere looking device, focused solely on it. He recognized it as the Candela; a charged, multiple flash grenade. He knew that the only user of such of a device was Siu Mei 'Ying' Lin, a former member of the SDU. He looked around, seemed like she was the only one here and she didn't seem to notice him. Maybe that's a good thing, he's not too keen on how she views him thanks to his warning about personal grudges.

His personal thought broke once she saw her trying to reach for a tool above her reach, petite fingers trying to yank a tool inches away from her hand. Isaac cleared his throat, and walked towards her. "Need to grab something."

"Yes please," she strained a bit, using her tiptoes to try and grab the tool, "can you grab the small wrench on the right? You're tall, you can reach it for me."

Isaac nodded, grabbing the tool and placing it in her hand. "Here you are, Miss Lin."

"Thank you, I very much appreciate it." She grabbed the wrench and went to tightening a bolt on the Candela. "I knew you were a nice person."

Isaac raised a brow. "Does the team think I'm not nice?"

Ying laughed, but when she saw that Isaac wasn't she stopped. "Well, they haven't really gotten to know you yet, Mr. Meza. Everyone is still a bit hesitant about it."

"Well, thank you for telling the truth Miss Mei Lin."

"Please," she gave a warm, friendly smile, "call me Siu."

"Call me Isaac." Isaac smiled back. Files differed in the sense that reading them makes you think you've already experienced their personalities. He had expected so, but so far all the he's met so far people have proved that wrong, they really feel… different when you meet them. Isaac had known about Ying's outgoing and easy demeanor but he didn't expect to feel so comfortable and calm around her.

"Okay Isaac." She replied. Ying pointed to another tool above her reach. "Mind getting that Phillips screwdriver for me?"

Isaac obliged and handed her the screwdriver. "If this is your workstation why are all your tools placed so far up?"

"Oh, sometimes Masaru uses some tools from my area." She fiddled with a small gadget on the Candela. "As a joke he sometimes places my tools where I can't reach them."

Isaac leaned on the wall. "Ah, Masaru. I've heard he's quite the lazy one."

She snickered. "You tell me. I personally think some time away from his stupid drones will do him some good."

"Couldn't agree more." Isaac said. "I just think he's overstimulated, it's a real problem in Japan I hear."

"Ugh, I hope he can get his act together." She sighed. "Before you ask, Mansaru and I broke up on friendly terms. Just every now and then we do some harmless little pranks to each other. I'm telling you this so you won't get jealous or anything."

Isaac chuckled somewhat nervously, before stuttering. "I-I didn't mean to come off like that. I'm aware of your previous relationship of course but-"

"Relax Isaac, it's alright, I'm joking." She laughed. "I'm surprised to see you this nervous. You were very confident in the meeting."

"Ah, well, I knew the situation. Relationships to me is like the sea: pretty to be in, and dangerous to get lost."

Ying chuckled. She placed her tools down and set away her tools. "Things can always change Isaac, you never know."

Isaac simply gave a sheepish grin, holding up his case. "I almost forgot, I came here to work on my goggles. Any free place you know where I can work here?"

Ying gave a kindly grin. "We can share my bench. There isn't any available space left thanks to Shuhrat's latest blunder."

She added an eye roll to the end of that sentence.

"Okay thank you Siu, I really appreciate it!" He placed his case on an empty space of the bench. Ying began to pack away her tools and her Candela, placing them away in a patient and timely manner. Isaac frowned a bit. "Oh, you're leaving?"

"Well of course!" She said. "Did you think we'd work together on the same bench? It'll be too messy."

"Of course, I apologize for my remark. It nice chatting with you Siu." Isaac waved, opening up his case.

"And with you Isaac. And there shouldn't be anything to apologize for Isaac, you're already too polite for a place like this."

"I'm only too polite when talking to essentially strangers."

Ying shook her head, giving him another warm smile. "I hope that I won't stay a stranger to you. I'll be going now Isaac, see you tomorrow."

She left shortly after from the workshop. Isaac stared at his case with a sudden sense of boredom and lack of friendliness, the feeling he felt with Ying gone. He sighed and opened up his case, getting out his fragile tool to craft.

* * *

Isaac didn't know how long he had spent in the garage but he remembers barely consciously getting to his room. He recalled seeing the clock change 2:17 AM to 7:58 AM in a matter of a single eyeblink. He yawned and stretched in his bed, pulling off a loose blanket. Isaac's first morning routine to do was light workouts, a few sets of push-ups, pull-ups, and other basic exercises. Then he was off to the bathroom, doing usual bathroom things.

It wasn't long after that before he heard the PA system whine a shrill tune before a clear voice emerged. He recognized it as Sledge, a thick Scottish accent muttering something about being too early on a Saturday. "Everyone, please meet in the Planning Room for new arrivals to Rainbow. You know the drill, just be in there before Thatcher comes."

The PA system whined again before a brief instance of a voice was heard, 'how do you turn this off?' Before going completely silent. Isaac change into his clothes, a simple gray shirt and tan cargos, and headed out of his room. He saw a few people from the same level he was on. Shuhrat 'Fuze' Kessikbayev walked out of his room, his attention drawn to Isaac.

"You are Isaac, no?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm Isaac. Nice to meet you Mr. Kessikbayev."

"Fuze." The man said, not bothering with any more small talk. Isaac knew about his bluntness, almost appeared apathetic to most if they didn't know the man underneath. Even through his bluntness and rude social interaction, his morality is one of the strongest of the entire group. He waited for Isaac. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah, let me catch up." Isaac jogged to Fuze. The two strolled through the halls without saying much of anything, keeping silence in order and their objective first. Isaac took the liberty of opening the door to the Planning Room for Fuze, prompting a small nod to him.

"You're a polite man, very good." Was all he said. Isaac deduced that this was a prime example of earning his elusively given trust. Isaac shot him a smile, holding the door open for the rest of the members. One of those included Ela, her brow furrowed in a mild anger directed at Isaac. He gulped and closed the door behind her, quickly finding a seat next to Fuze. He glanced around the room, several of the operators weren't in the room. Mostly those who do the best at defending an objective...

It wasn't long until Thatcher opened the door, followed by three men, two shorter than the large one who entered last. Thatcher cleared his throat. "Everyone, we got some new personnel today. As we have been very frequently this past week. As such, we'll make a quick introduction and you'll be doing whatever the fuck your were doing."

He lined up the new men, showing off two dressed in JTF-2 gear, the knife and maple leaf insignia present in their patches and logos. "These two are new JTF-2 members, recently accepted based on our success with the group. Go ahead lads."

The taller one stepped up first. "John Nilsson, I'm eager to join you as a soldier."

John tucked back into line as the next man stepped up. "Ethan Yi, but you can call me Tundra! I hope that I'll make a useful asset to Rainbow."

Thatcher clapped his hands sarcastically. "Thanks for your performance boys, I hear an encore chant right now." He gestured then back to line. The third man seemed more mature than the two Canadians, taking a step forward. "I'm Jace Cylus of the NCIS Contingency Response Unit. I've handled terrorist situations many times before and I'll do my best to use the skills I've learned and apply them here."

There was some minor coughs and sniffling from the crowd. Jace frowned a bit, surprised at the rather casual aura he felt from the operators. He stepped back into line and Thatcher took the spotlight. "Alright, since there are four new recruits in this past week we can get started on Orientation. After you three get your rooms set up, you'll join Isaac at the doors and walk with me up to the training grounds. Everyone, you're dismissed."

The crowd began to break away and disperse at their dismissal. The newbies took a confused look at one another. "Who's Isaac?" Tundra asked.

"Him." Thatcher pointed at Isaac. "Mister former CIA himself. He's been here a bit longer than you three and can lead you to the grounds. Now hurry the bloody hell up."

* * *

 **A/N: Part one of Orientation. Mostly social interaction and character building. Will have part two done this week, hopefully by Wednesday. I have got to say though, I'm surprised that I didn't receive any female operators at all. I usually get a female almost always but not so, hmm.**

 **Anyways leave a review.**

 **-Mister Bombastic**


	4. Orientation: 2

Isaac waited at the doorway for the new recruits with a case in his hand holding his "X-Ray" specs. He hadn't read the files on any of them considering he didn't expect their arrival so soon, Isaac was clueless as to who they were besides their namesake.

He saw the trio walking to the doorway with duffle bags in their hands, presumably carrying the gadgets that many operators here use for their missions. The strode right to him, already falling into attention.

"Waiting on you sir." Jace said. He nodded and started his way to the training grounds. "This area right here is the garage, we store all our vehicles there in the main base. Over there is the training grounds. We'll conduct exercises and team building missions. Any questions?"

The one who called himself John rose his hand. "Does Rainbow have other bases around the world?"

"Yes, there's multiple sites with different agents working them. Don't forget we're not the only the people at Rainbow, there's a whole department for intelligence and doing the paperwork."

The rest didn't say anything as they ventured to the training grounds, entering the rings of the open field of targets and tires. There stood the building that the SAS had allowed them to have, painted with the pockmarks of bulletholes and carbon burns of explosives, years of rebuilding and tearing obvious in its old face. Thatcher stood at the front with a group of 6, wearing dark blue uniforms while a pile of dark orange uniforms laid on tires and plywood turned table. He, however, dressed casually.

"So glad that you could join us," Echo, one of the blue uniformed members began, "we didn't know when you would come."

"Oi, quit it." Thatcher waved him off. He grabbed the pile of orange uniforms and gave them to Isaac. "Alright gentlemen, today is orientation."

"You'll learn that Rainbow is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for the lazy or the simple minded. We're going to be doing three objective based drills, or rounds, as attackers, and defenders in a matter of a few minutes. However we'll be doing this all day with no breaks except for a one minute preparation phase." He brought out a wooden case and propped it open, revealing sleek looking gun, followed by a large sac-looking object in its bottom. "These are paintball guns, as we won't be doing live rounds until you've learned what are the basics of capturing, destroying, or rescuing an objective. As such, we'll be doing teams of five."

Tundra raised his hand.

"Yes recruit?"

"There's only four of us."

"I've realized that, that's why Cutter is going to be in your team." The happy faced Cutter peered from the crowd with the same friendly smile on his face, despite everyone else's seriousness. "He's an essential team member and was new not to long ago. If a dopey looking yokel like him can pass, I'm sure you all can as well."

"Thanks Mike!" Cutter waved, already dressed in his orange outfit. Thatcher nodded and took a paintball gun from the case. The rest of the men grabbed the one suits and slipped them on, uncomfortable heavy things draped over them.

Echo brought another case, this time a plastic, opaque bin with drones in them. "With that being said, you have one minute once we start the round to find our location. You will use these drones to find it. These little buggers are essential in real missions, so don't break them."

The defenders left the the group outside with Thatcher, holding a stopwatch in his hand. They grabbed the paintball guns from their case, feeling them in their hands to get use to their design. The drones were the last to be touched, each member of the team grabbing one and connecting them to their phones. Isaac activated his drone, and let it roll on the floor. "Everyone use their callsign. We'll be using it from now on. I'm X-Ray."

Jace called out. "Alchemist."

"Ghost." John followed.

"Tundra."

"Cutter."

"Alright lads," Thatcher began, "we are starting the round in three, two, one."

He clicked his stopwatch. "One minute!"

The group rolled out their drones behind a cover of stacked tires. The little devices slid easily under the open spaces of wooden barricades and through the open ventilation shafts scattered around the building. Three of them entered through the front, seeing the leg of a barely escaping defender. Through a vent leading to the "bedroom", the drones discovered the location of the objective and saw the defenders setting up dummy wire and traps.

"Spotted enemies, marking them now." Tundra called out. Isaac nodded and ordered the group to return their drones before huddling them together.

"There are five tangos in the room, two in the center, one by the front door, and two in the corners of the back. Ghost and I will breach through the back. Alchemist and Tundra, create a diversion through the front, make it seem like we're trying to breach through the front. Cutter, go through the metal window in the side, surprise them when I give the signal." The team nodded in agreement.

"Alright, times up mission is a go. You've got five minutes!" Thatcher called out, clocking his results. The team loaded their weapons and made their way to the dilapidated and patched building, splitting up towards the side.

Alchemist and Tundra broke a piece of the wooden barricade, peeking inside only to be immediately shot at with paintballs. They recoiled and fired blankly in the hole. Tundra called in. "We're taking fire at the door!"

"Roger that, breaching back." X-Ray broke through the wooden barricade into the empty room. Ghost ventured in, checking corners before quickly taking cover behind a flipped bed frame. X-Ray followed through, watching the next door war carefully. He rolled the drone under the frame and marked the two waiting at the other side.

"Throw a flash." He nodded to Ghost. They broke a chunk of the barricade and threw the flash grenade in the hole. It was exploded and blinded whoever was there. The two breached the door and checked their corners. Ghost saw a defender hiding behind a wall, some of his body exposed as they rubbed their eyes. He fired his gun, three quick fwapths hitting the defenders side. They let out a groan of pain and keeled over while shouting extremities.

"Tango down." Ghost called out. X-Ray and Ghost were quickly fired upon, the whistles of paintballs flying by their heads. The two quickly to cover behind the area where the defender hid.

X-Ray kneeled down behind cover and brought down his his goggles. "Activating X-Ray specs."

His view came into a blue and red gazed scene. He spotted blobs of heat hiding behind the thin walls of the next room. He checked in his radio. "Cutter this is X-Ray, breach the window in ten."

"Roger that." Cutter replied. Cutter began to bring out his Plasma torch and created a square in the sheet metal of the window. After finishing he quickly knocked down the metal and threw another flash in the room. X-Ray took point and Ghost quickly took to the door and kicked it open. X-Ray spotted a blinded defender and pulled two swift shots to his abdomen. The defender fell in shock.

A sudden thunder echoed the room and X-Ray's vision became heavily distorted. "Fuck, there's a Yokai drone somewhere!"

Ghost quickly pulled back X-Ray behind cover and peeled his face over the doorway and retracted. "Did you know where it came from?"

"Upper left corner."

Ghost dragged X-Ray behind him as he retreated to more viable cover with the "dead" body of the defender. They scoffed, revealing their voice.

"Who's the one that shot me?" Said the feminine Slavic voice. Ghost pointed to himself. "That was pretty good shooting."

"Thank you." Ghost leaned to his side and aimed at the small amount of opening he had between the cover and doorway and shot a triplet of paintballs to the left corner of the next room. The drone splattered and fell short, circuiting violently on the floor. "Drone down."

X-Ray groaned as his sense came to normal again. "Ugh, understood. Alchemist Tundra how goes it?"

"We moved to the hallway and took the room on the right, the OBJ is in front of us behind a broken wooden wall." Alchemist radioed in. "We can use some assistance."

"Cutter, go around and assist Tundra and Alchemist." X-Ray commanded.

"Yessir!" Cutter pried away from the window and went around the building. He saw the open window of the room that the other two operators were stuck in. He quickly climbed through and was met with a hail of paintballs. Cutter ducked for cover and spotted the two, pinned by the enemy.

"Cutter, they've created a murder hole. We need a diversion, do you have a smoke grenade?" Tundra asked. Cutter pulled a smoke grenade from his vest and held it steady. "Alright, in three; throw it."

Tundra counted to three on his fingers. He closed his fist, Cutter pulling the pin tossing the smoke to the murder hole.

It popped, a thick cloud of gray swamping the area of the hole. The shooter began to spray randomly at the room, pausing to reload.

"Acid coming right up!" Alchemist called out, stretching out a roll of his signature acidic breaching tape. He applied it to wall, framing it just big enough for one train of people to follow. Tundra broke up from the group, and tossed a flash through the murder hole. At the moment, Alchemist pressed on the charge. "Activating!"

A loud bang was heard. The wall sizzled as acid ate the wall away, collapsing and breaking way for the team. The three pushed through the hole and checked their surroundings. Tundra spotted a blinded Bandit, and popped him off with a clear shot to his face shield.

Alchemist aimed his sights at another person, the Canadian patch on their shoulder. He was about to fire until he felt a sharp tug on his lower leg, and then a sudden thud to his chest. He had stepped on a dummy trap, and groaned in annoyance before acting dead.

Tundra and Cutter took cover as soon Alchemist fell into the trap. Frost had pinned them down with the help of Mute, who covered her while she reloaded.

X-Ray and Ghost rapidly advanced from their position when they heard the breach. They were met with fire from a lone Echo, who sprayed randomly over a deployed shield. Ghost looked over at X-Ray waiting for an order. X-Ray had seen that Echo was fixated towards the right side of the doorway where they stood, Ghost's side.

"Alright, suppress while I try to flank."

Ghost nodded and peaked the corner, laying out his magazine of paintballs to the stained shield. Echo took cover as he reloaded. X-Ray quickly advanced to his exposed side and popped a few balls into Echo's side.

"Nani?!" Echo shouted in disbelief. Ghost rushed from cover joining with X-Ray to the last barricaded doorway.

"Tundra and I are pinned down." Cutter buzzed in. Ghost quickly responded.

"Roger that, moving in now!"

X-Ray sweeped the door and cleared it. Ghost came to the front and kicked the door down with one fell swoop, exposing the master bedroom and the two remaining defenders, turning around in shock. Ghost shot down Frost in an instant, X-Ray and Cutter taking down Mute.

"Area secured!" X-Ray called out, moving to the objective. He raised an eyebrow at it, a simple large box that was filled with various clothes with the word "BOMB" written on the side with heavy marker.

"Securing the objective." Ghost said, approaching the box. Unsure of what to do, he knocked over the bomb with cautious manner, its innards of clothes falling off the side.

"Congratulations, you secured the bomb." Mute sarcastically said, brushing himself off. The others began to close in on the room and congratulate the winning team, whether generous or sarcastic. Frost helped Alchemist get the trap off her leg offering an apology. "It's fine. At least it wasn't the real deal." Alchemist jokes, pulling himself up. Ghost had ventured into the back room to see that Ela still waited patiently on the floor.

"The exercise is over." He said, offering his hand. "You don't need to lay down anymore."

"Thank you." She said, getting up on her own and swatting his hand away. "But I can do fine on my own."

Ghost simply smirked, making the Polish woman raise an eyebrow. Ela didn't expect this response from someone whos offer to help was just so rudely denied. She trailed off to the bedroom, glancing back at the man. "You coming?"

"Yes." He responded, the way a quiet man would. Ela walked besides him in silence as they entered the bedroom, the teams joking around about bad ears and bruises forming in their side.

Through the mists of appraisals and quips, Thatcher appeared at the main doorway, the stopwatch paused in his matured hands.

"Two minutes and forty seven seconds left. Impressive for your first time Orange team." He commented, looking around the painted mess. Thatcher took a seat on a splattered chair, not really caring for the mess. His hands carried a Manila folder, marked with the word "CLASSIFIED" on its side. "Unfortunately, we must end this mission early."

"Why's that Thatcher?" Mute asked.

"We've received intel," he shook the folder, "that requires everyone's attention. Dress out and meet in the Planning Room in ten, we'll worry about the mess later."

The members of Rainbow looked at each other with a sense of urgency as they began to undress from the baggy stained clothing. They quickly shuffled their way from the building, leaving the mess of their first mission behind."

* * *

 **A/N: So finally finished with the first action scene, which was unexpectedly delayed thanks to Finals preparation that came late this year. Plus, not a lot of free time left because of it haha, been keeping busy on the 100 Prompt Challenge haha.**

 **This is just a small taste of what I hopefully did right with my action scenes. I took advice of writing them short, easy to read, and fast-paced, which was a struggle since I like to describe things. Tell me how you felt in the reviews. Also, tell me if you prefer their callsigns or their real names, because I can work with either. God bless!**

 **-Mister Bombastic**


	5. Operation Grim Wood: Pregame

The other operators had already filled the anxious room when Isaac and the others had arrived. They stared patiently into a screen with the face of the current leader of Rainbow, simply known as Six, her stoic feature scrutinizing the new recruits coming. They pulled out chairs and sat idly by as Six began to speak.

"Ah, the new members. I am Six, the Deputy Director of Rainbow. I'm glad that we have you all together."

"It's a pleasure ma'am," Jace nodded.

"We're ready for the intel." Ethan added.

"Good, than I won't waste any time." The screen brought up a mugshot of a matured, Latino man. His hair was unkempt, his face unshaved, and his eyes baggy and red. Under the photo white letters spelt out his name, exposing his identity.

"This gentlemen is Artor Boleslav, an old player in the gunrunning business." The screen displayed several more candid photos of the man, showing off his wealth or his abundance of criminal activities. "He has recently broken off with the Russian Mafia, and now runs his own cartel in southern Germany, away from his Russian ex-compatriots and into the Italian Mafia's control. We would usually leave this kind of situation to local governments, but he's caught our eye."

The next few images showed clandestine photos of men moving and dealing with massive arms piles to masked men. The weapons ranged from hand grenades, to rocket launchers and machine guns. There were some whispers and worry among the group, Isaac scrutinizing the photos. He kept every detail in mind, an open field and a brush of trees surrounding them in the meet up.

"We've believe they've been selling weapons to local terrorist groups, and could be possibly be a supplier to the White Mask." Six slid a picture of a dead White Mask member, his weapon covered in his blood. "The weapon this member used in an attack in Berlin last year traced back to Boleslav."

"So that means this is a terrorism cause." John concluded.

"Yes, it is." Six brought up another screen, showing a cabin in the thick brush of trees of the Black Forest. "This will be your base of Command, a cabin in the Black Forest located about seventy miles outside of his own personal mansion."

The monitor showed an aerial view of his mansion. As well as several candid photos of its exterior at various angles and locations.

"The area is heavily guarded, heavily armed, and hard to take." Six said. "There's also the risk of collateral damage. Boleslav has several live in staff on the premises. Unless they pose a threat to the mission or to your team, leave them unharmed."

The crowd shifted softly under the information. "We want you to siege the area and take Boleslav alive for information. I trust that you can carry out this soon. There will be ten of you going in this mission, so there are ten mission dossiers for you. You can decide among yourselves on who's to go. Any questions?"

Ethan raised his hand. "How likely is it that the staff will turn on us or take arms against us?"

"I wish I could tell you but Boleslav treats his people well. Like I said before if they pose a threat eliminate them. Anything else?"

The crowd remained silent—It was a straightforward mission, no real need for questions.

"From this point forward, This mission is now called Operation Grim Wood. I expect you to get the job done quickly and professionally. Do not forget Rainbow, lives are at stake here. Six out."

The screen shut off and reflected back the crowd of operators. Mike grabbed the pile of dossiers and took over the Planning Room.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, this mission is of high priority. If by any means getting these bastards cuts off the White Masks arms supply than so be it. I'll be assigning the team which will consist of two squads." He shook the dossiers in his hands. "First off, we'll be taking any volunteers for this mission, preferably someone of patience and good social interaction."

Timur Glazkov rose his hand. "I suppose I can take the mission. Maybe the scenery will help with my art."

Mike ventured towards Timur and gave him a dossier. "Anyone else?"

No one answered.

"Fine, I'll just call names," he brought out his phone and opened his app that randomly selected names. He usually used it for deciding who gets chores done, but it came useful for other situations. He pressed a button and sound effects echoed weakly, before a ding announced its results.

"John Nilsson, Jace Cylus, Isaac Meza, Elena Alvarez, Grace Nam, Gustave Kateb, Eliza Cohen, and Elias Kötz, and finally me. Get your things ready, we'll be leaving for one hour. You're all dismissed."

The crowd dispersed, the ones who got called grabbing the dossiers until they all disappeared. Mike made them stay behind, bringing up the photo of the cabin again.

"This cozy little place will be our HQ for the mission. We're to gather intelligence and reconnaissance first. It has five bedrooms and two bathrooms—and rather luckily—a small indoor jacuzzi on the side of the house. There's a study in the first floor, and that'll be the setup for the mission. All planning, intel, and debrief will happen there." The screen then showed three camouflage quads, an older olive-green Range Rover, and a used armored car. "Thanks to our friends in the GSG-9, we've managed to acquire several vehicles perfect for the forest environment. They make quick getaways, and can be easily used."

"No need to thank me." Elias smirked. Some chuckled at the remark.

Mike didn't say anything but let out a low sigh. "As I was saying, these are good vehicles for the environment. We will only use them for recon and the initial attack. The house is fully stocked with supplies that can last for the month, which is perfect if this mission gets longer than it needs to."

"How long is it supposed to be?" Ash asked

"A week or so, I recommend you bring a book." Mike headed out of the door. He turned around before he left the room. "One hour, get your things and get ready to leave."

He closed the door behind him. The others began to flip through the dossier before rising from their chairs to leave and prepare. Isaac took a special interest to his dossier, going over the personal family of Boleslav. Maybe he can use that for his advantage, if Boleslav chose being so unwilling.

* * *

The plane ride doesn't last very long. A simple hour and forty or so minutes was enough time for Isaac to contemplate on how the mission can play out. He imagine sniper cover by Timur, while two teams breached the roof and side entrance where there's little guard coverage. They can prevent access to leaving by destroying cars, blocking off the roads, et cetera.

The team didn't sit together as a group. Even though it was a private jet, they didn't seem keen on talking. Many of them dozed off, read a book, or did whatever they did on a device. Isaac didn't start his book or dabbled with a phone, he preferred to watch the skyline shrink and warp on the plane window. It calmed him, seeing such a serene landscape free of turmoil. The bonus being to the mission was the cabin in the woods, he greatly enjoyed camping and nature.

His moment of peace broke when he heard the shifting weight of a person near him. The weight sat next to him, the rustling of pillows and seats alerting him.

"Hello there Isaac." Grace greeted. "Need some company?"

"I can never deny some." He coolly replied. He turned to meet her eye to eye. "I trust that you've been enjoying your flight?"

"I am now that I'm talking to someone." She said, tapping away on her ballistic laptop. Isaac peaked at the thing, seeing a few animations of games pixelate through the screen. "Only so much that apps can offer."

Isaac huffed. "I don't think that the cabin has internet. Maybe taking some time off a screen can help you."

"Ha ha." Grace sarcastically started. "It's a real shame for you that I have my own personal hotspot. So unfortunately you don't have to see me suffer."

"Oh, that's coming soon. It's a requirement when being friends with me." Isaac joked. "That is if you're looking for a friend in me."

Grace smirked, not looking back at him and focusing on a game in her laptop. "Maybe, maybe not, we'll find out soon."

Isaac smirked at shifted, putting his leg up. Grace leaned back into her seat. She took a peek around her surroundings, and lowered a bit to Isaac. He rose an eyebrow, then Grace began whispering.

"So Mister Meza, since you're so about our relationships with each other…"

"Yeah?" Isaac slightly buckled. Maybe if she revealed more, Isaac can resolve their differences.

"What do you think of Eliza and Elena coming along in this mission together, considering their history." the Korean inquired. Isaac felt a wave of relief tingle, but he didn't know the reason why.

"Their kind of behavior needs to end. It's only a matter of time until one of their brains turn to mush after trying to one up each other." Isaac answered, he grabbed a drink from a nearby table. "Why do you ask?"

"Eliza has been trying to get some info on you." Grace brought up a recorded video on her laptop. It showed Isaac videos of himself walking through the halls, talking with Siu, and even the training mission.

"I think she might not like me." Isaac rubbed his stubbly chin. Grace put away the laptop.

"She's been asking around if you've been talking to anyone. Besides Siu and I, I told her that you haven't."

"Wait, so you've been spying on me for Eliza?"

"Yep." Grace simply responded.

Isaac let out a sigh and took a sip of his drink, the strong alcoholic substance burning his throat. "Jesus, no wonder you're buddy-buddy with me."

"Oh it's not only that." She said. "You're the first person to give me their phone voluntarily. That's a step for friendship with me."

Isaac smirked again. "Just friendship?"

"Let's not get too far, remember what I said earlier." Grace brought up the video of Isaac and Siu in the workshop. "Plus, I don't think it's fair that you just did this yesterday. For someone so into relationships, you sure do like starting one."

He shrugged. "Simply the enigma that is my mind."

Grace laughed, falling back comfortably on her seat. "Whatever you say."

Jace took amusement at the two operators conversing with each other, seeing their little jokes and talks making each other laugh and listen. He found it grand that someone enjoyed life and can experience it. It was a more social sight than the seat he sat next to Timur Glazkov, who sketched away in a notebook, colored pencils making vivid displays of movement and life. Jace had to admit, he was a fan of his work despite barely seeing two pieces by side glancing.

Timur noticed him staring at the art but he paid no mind. At least Jace didn't ask what he was drawing or asked if he could draw a portrait of them.

Among them was Elias Kötz, who was more of a talker than Timur was. The two shared conversations with each other for the ride.

"I'd like to be the first to welcome you to Rainbow as a comrade Jace." Elias started, holding out his hand. Jace shook in turn.

"It's a pleasure Elias." Jace said. "It's everything I've hoped so far."

"That's good to know." Elias said. "Where was it that you came from again? That accent is so refreshing from the more...generic ones you Americans have."

"I'm from New Orléans, down south. It's pretty noticeable isn't it?"

"I don't mind, like I said it's refreshing. The Latin accents sound the same to me, so do the Asian accents, yadda yadda." Elias chuckled, he took a swig of a beer he had acquired from the bar. "You also don't seem so gloom and doom like the rest of us."

"I like to live life. You never know when it's gonna end."

"Indeed my friend, indeed." Elias caught the stare of Jace's eyes to Isaac and Grace, laughing or sharing some sort of conversation with each other. "Ah, I see you've noticed the two chatty Kathy's. They've hit it off pretty well, I think."

"Agreed, from what I heard from my short time here Isaac isn't popular."

"Well, with the men of the group he's alright. He's just a new guy, but he's made friends with Mike already, and the SAS boys took a liking to him." Elias pointed at the two subtly. "But the women, however, are a different story."

"Why's that?"

Elias shrugged, and swigged his beer. "Half of the women don't like him, Elżbieta and Eliza being two them. He's already made friends with Siu from the SDU and Grace obviously. Quite the player, but seems he's persuaded by a certain people."

Jace chuckled. "You think so?"

"Nope." Elias replied, taking another glance at them. "It's gonna end once he's seen them in missions."

Jace nodded in agreement. Elias quickly caught his attention when he beckoned to Jace. "By the way, you didn't hear any of this from me."

Jace smirked and nodded again. "Heard what?"

"How all the women either hate or love Isaac." Timur announced. He never once looked up from his sketchbook. "Or that you just said he has an Asian fetish."

"Timur, please." Elias started, acting overtly pitiable and dramatic. "You mustn't tell the secrets that Jace and I have confided in each other, sworn by the holy blessing of—"

"Before you keep going I won't say anything. Just shut up or speak quieter." He said, making another rough swipe in his sketch.

Elias and Jace chuckled. "Understood."

John didn't really speak with anyone on the ride either, he simply sat in his seat, reading a novel that he brought along. He tuned out the others and focused on the words of the words of the book.

Eliza side glanced the new members of Rainbow with an especially intense focus on Isaac. Grace wasn't supposed to be revealing hidden details of her spying but there she was. It wasn't long before a woman came by her side. The puffy lips formed into a confident smirk, her eyes looking down.

"Are you jealous?" Elena teased.

"No, I'm disappointed." Eliza didn't bother looking at the woman.

"Ah, that makes sense. I could tell that he thinks you're competitive." Elena said. "Here's to starting this mission with a blast."

Eliza shot a glare at Elena. "This mission will be a success, and it won't be thanks to a one-way mirror. Keep that in mind."

Elena scoffed and left the woman to herself, not saying a word.

* * *

Easily the worst part of the journey to the cabin was the ride by the Range Rover and a rented SUV. Miles of jagged and bumpy mountain roads with no real roads, right next to them a steep hillside of dense thickets of trees and rocks . The cramped spaces of the cars and the constant motion of the road didn't a good trip make.

"Hold on, we're almost to the cabin." Thatcher called from the driver's seat. The group inside held on the hand grips as the car rocked violently, the dark forest provided no comfort to the passengers.

"Blyat, you're going to kill us!" Timur cursed. his body rocked against the door, letting out a groan.

"Reminds me of home." Isaac said, the car jumping, making him hit his head on the roof. "Ow. Yep, just like home."

"Quit your bitching, it's only 10 minutes away!" Mike called out. Elias let out a pained puff as Timur accidentally elbowed him in this side as a result of another throwing session over a rough patch.

Elena gritted her teeth in preparation for the next awful quake to rock her against the dashboard, planting her feet firmly on the floor and tugging hard on the handlebars " _Santa María ayuda me, yo no quiero morir en esta coché de basura_!"

John didn't say anything much as he held the handlebar just above his window with dear life.

"Drive a little smoother will you? We'll be dead before we reach the cabin." Elias said. Mike just signaled him off.

"Brats, the lot of you."

The tires finally skirted over their last field of dirt and roots as it reached smoother, more flat terrain. The passengers settled more cautiously into their seats, the only shakiness belonging to the soft hum of the engine. The car drove along the dirt path until it finally reached a flat hillside, the cabin now falling into place against the dark forest.

It was a good-sized place, it's windows covered and dark, the insides just as misty and black like the forest around them. A tall stone chimney stood tall on its wooden support, the pile of chopped wood and axes just seem next to the porch. A balcony sat up on top of the porch, facing outwards into the cliff side. Next to the porch, the vehicles shrouded in protective camouflage tarps. On the side of the cabin laid a small room with various pipes and meters springing from its sides like a vine.

The whole area was pretty romantic, not something that Rainbow would acquire for such a quick and dangerous mission. Mike quickly opened his door and hopped out, tapping on the hood of the car. "Alright everyone, get your equipment and set up the planning room. Isaac, Glazkov, Elias, bring along the monitors. Jace and Elena, help me bring in the servers and cables. The door should be unlocked, place the shit in the study; first door on the right hallway."

Mike went around and popped the hood, all the equipment laying neatly in order of size and amount. The group went at it, taking their things and beginning to bring them inside the house. The inside showed a cozy and warm aura, furniture placement pointing towards the chimney fireplace. The kitchen was decent, the table large enough for six, stocked with bags of groceries and foodstuffs.

The other car finally arrived a little later than theirs, all their passengers finally thanking whatever that their ride was over. They began to unpack as well, taking in along various equipment from monitors to security cameras.

The study was large enough to have a table in, perfect for maps and scales. The room already had a monitor on the wall, along with a bookshelf full of literature and novels. In the corner a computer desk was present, with an older model of a computer perched on top next to a notebook. The team began to set up the equipment, a simple task that didn't take too long to finish. With all ten working, the task completed in an hour or so.

Mike smiled as he plugged in the last cable to the server, and the screen popped the logo of Rainbow in a sleek, white design. "There we are, completely done."

Mike turned around to the worked team. "We still have a lot else to unload folks. Timur and Ash, go set up a few cameras in the forest. Everyone else get your personal equipment inside, we'll be briefing over quarters in a bit."

Some time passed as the two went off to set up their cameras in the dark forest. The remaining team sat around the planning table as Mike began to debrief them of the living situation. "I'd like to remind you that this isn't a vacation. I know the cabin looks nice and romantic, but there's still jobs to be done. Until the mission starts, we'll be sending a team of two everyday to the mansion where Boleslav resides, gathering whatever they can on building details. When you're not busy, get busy. I don't want any of you to remain idle here."

He cleared his throat. "As for living situations, I already made the pairings for a room. Since we have an odd woman out, I'm trusting that you can keep an eye out and not do anything for your own benefit. Grace and Eliza will share a room, downstairs on the right. Elias..."

Elias perked up.

"...you'll be sharing with Timur upstairs."

Elias lost his enthusiasm, leaning back into his chair. "With mister killjoy himself..."

"Jace and Gustave will share a room upstairs. John, you'll be sharing a room with me. As for the odd woman out: Elena, you'll be sharing with Isaac upstairs. I figured since you're both Hispanic, it wouldn't be too different."

Elena shot a look over to Isaac, a one that screamed doubtfulness of his character. Isaac did what he did best and replied to her stair with a polite nod hello. He wondered how Elena will be for a while. Over Mike's announcements she shifted her seats and waltz her way towards him, sitting down next to him with a confident smirk. She leaned into his side and whispered something.

" _Que puedo confiar en usted, si usted me puede confiar._ "

Isaac let the words ring in his ear, before she pulled away. Everything came back into focus, the Spanish women still smirking.

"...and please, clean yourselves up. That being said, get unpacked and ready," Mike grabbed his mission dossier and tossed it on the table, all the photos and information on Boleslav, "we got ourselves a terrorist to secure."

* * *

 **A/N: I started this on Saturday, What great pacing I have for this story!**

 **So we begin our first mission, the hunt for Boleslav! I based the location and target on the movie Lord of War, which talks about the world's most affluent arms dealer. It was originally going to be in Mexico with a cartel, but I figured I'd go with Germany since it's a more familiar location with Rainbow. Saving Mexico for later.**

 **The way I'm planning on making a "mission" is to have 3 or 4 chapters on one, with switching narratives from mission to headquarters. So I'll be doing a paragraph on how Rainbow in Hereford is doing before switching back to Operation Grim Wood.**

 **No OC's introduced this chapter.**

 **Leave a review, it'll really help a lot!**

 **-Mister Bombastic**


	6. Operation Grim Wood: Interlude

**TW: PTSD induced dream**

* * *

Isaac couldn't remember much after he had gone upstairs to his room. He recalled unpacking some clothes, bringing along his gun and specs and plopping on a decent bed before losing consciousness and seeing whatever random show his dreams casted in his mind—It was a strange one, if not startling. Isaac saw everyone in the woods with their gear on, singing a song that sounded normal but was just nonsense while Boleslav had joined them and lead the song.

The target had his eyes intensely fixed on Isaac, singing with joyful expression. As the time faded by fast and the light disappeared, there was only the mist and the fire. The song lost its joyfulness, crossing the line into dreariness. Boleslav's expressions changed instantly, it became angered and menacing. The others were slouched and depressed, their voices sad. Then suddenly a bright uproar of the fire caused him to shield his eyes. When he looked back, he saw the forest and everything around him burnt to ash, smoldering embers leaving nothing but blackened dust. The group had burned as well, cooked flesh and scorched uniforms singing along to their song. Their faces weren't even faces, they had become distorted. Blackened static was only visible, nothing familiar yet everything recognizable, as if his brain had erased the faces and violently tried to reclaimed their looks. Their song was more distorted now than ever, it's lyrics and beat beyond anything he can imagine as they simp became jumbled nonsense.

Boleslav bore into Isaac with such an anger and hatred he felt his heart quiver in fear. He sensed the fear, too, for suddenly Boleslav cackled, as they other began to disintegrate into ash and he grew bigger and bigger. Isaac cowered, falling to his back and facing the monstrosity with no hope.

Then suddenly he blinked.

The woods had returned, trees now full of life with sun glistening through their skinny bodies. Isaac looked around, seeing that the location had changed from the campsite. The only person who stayed was Boleslav, out of breath and bunches near a tree. His expression changed, a now worried and fearful one casted itself. He stared directly into Isaac's eyes again, this time he seemed pleading. They called for a solution, one that would mean a stop to whatever he did. Then Isaac blinked again.

Everything was white. There was no shadow, no shade, no sun, everything was gone except for him and Boleslav. He looked down at the sobbing mess that he became, bruised and battered as he implored for mercy. Isaac smirked, going to do an action until he realized that he was holding something in his arms. He looked down and saw Boleslav's son, weeping and grabbing on Isaac's arm as he reached for his father. His other hand held a gun to his head, his finger squeezing ever so lightly against its trigger.

Isaac finally heard a voice call out for him. It came from Boleslav, though it echoed and became distorted every time it spoke, as if multiple people spoke at the same time, uttering the same words.

"Please….let him go…he's not part…only a child..."

Isaac looked down at the boy, and the boy looked back up. His eyes were red with tears, shaking his head as he begged for him to let him go. Isaac eyes widened, he couldn't move his hand. It only pressed against the boy's head even more.

He made the decision to look back at Boleslav. He had disappeared—a skinnier, darker man replaced him, speaking a different language but it still sounded all the same. Isaac looked around the area, and everything had changed. It no longer looked like an empty white void, but an interior of a house, it's windows revealing the desert climate outside. The boy had changed too, he looked more dressed for the Land and much like his father.

"Please! I beg of you…" He heard the voices call. Isaac winced, the shrill hurting his ears.

"Shut up!" Isaac screamed, pressing as hard as he could into the boy's hair. "Tell me! Telllllllll mmmmmmmeeeeeeeeee…"

The reality warped forward around him, his screams unable to be formed as his form bent at the will of his subconscious. Finally, everything went black.

He shot straight up the bed, sweat dripping against his forehead as he catches his breath. He felt a cool hand on his shoulder and quickly grabbed it, realizing the familiarity of a woman's hand. He saw Elena peering at him with a worried expression turned to one of pain as he gripped her hand.

"O-ow!" She said. "Are you alright?"

"What…" he huffed, grabbing a nearby shirt and wiping the sweat off his face, "...what time is it?"

"It's 4:52 in The morning." Elena opened the window, the dawning sky taking its blue hue. "See?"

"Y-Yeah…" Isaac said, slowly regaining his breath. He laid back down in the sheets, not looking at Elena.

"Isaac, what were you dreaming about?" She asked, worry in her tone like she saw a friend experience trauma. "You can tell me."

"It was just a nightmare, that's all." Isaac replied. "Just a nightmare."

Elena didn't say anything. She left and brought a chair over to them and placed it at his bedside.

"What are you doing?" He questioned, rising up from his side.

"I've seen this type of thing before Isaac. You have PTSD don't you?"

"I'm confident most of the military members here have it, police CTU's don't experience it as much." He stated. "I don't need comforting."

"I'm taking that as a yes." Elena chuckled, hoping it lighten his mood. "I'm sure you don't dream this every night."

Isaac stirred up. "I don't. It's been awhile since I had a dream like that…"

Elena made herself more comfortable. "Hey, it's okay muchacho. I've seen too many friends stay up at night because of what they done. Ryad is the same, I'd comfort him until he sleeps."

Isaac stayed silent. "I haven't even properly introduced myself to you, why would you bother helping me even when I could die by the end of this mission?"

Elena smiled. "Because when we work as a team we have meaning. I'm Elena, Elena Alvarez." She held out her hand to shake. "Nice to meet you."

Isaac stared at the woman, giving in and letting a simple smirk escape. "I'm Isaac. Isaac Meza."

"Meza, is that a Spanish name?"

"Yes, my parents were from Mexico." Isaac said. "Born in the US."

"Ah Isaac, it's glad to see a fellow Spanish speaker on board the team." Elena smiled. She got up and walked back to her bed. "We've got some time to sleep, so let's not get any nightmares, Alright?"

"Alright."

"See you in the morning." She said, as she sighed and quickly went back to sleep.

"See you." Isaac closed his eyes again, and let his body rest.

* * *

The soft plops of rain sprinkled through the lush landscape of the forest. The two men laid prone behind the thicket of bushes and trees as the mansion took up the main view. A ghillie-covered sniper rifle was propped on a fallen tree, Glaz taking in the intricate design of the mansion and its people. Next to him, Thatcher looked through his spotter scope, seeing the angle of the mansion where it could be possibly at its weakest. "I count five men at the left wing of the building, but only three at the back."

"Confirmed." Timur murmured, noting the guards. "Armed lightly, carrying SMGs and PDWs."

"Blue team, this is Thatcher. We confirmed several hostiles on the left side of the edifice. Report your side over."

"Roger that Gold team, this is Ghost," the radio cackled, "we've confirmed two dozen hostiles on the right and front side over."

Ghost and Ash kneeled on the dense bush that hid their bodies. They laid a tarp over them, reflecting their mass with the scenery around him, a cloak that Ghost had brought along from the JTF-2. It was called the ReflecSheetX1, a prototype of camouflage cloak that could make the surrounding images warp and reflect on the wearer, blending them in the background. Ghost took the rifle and spotted another guard walking along the driveway to the luxurious mansion.

"Another one." Ghost said. Ash made a mark in her notebook. They counted seven hostiles on the front side alone, the rest taken their positions on the right side where the garage laid.

Ash wore a spare of the cloak, her spotter's scope covered and painted. She scanned around the area and spotted a figure moving about on the roof. His gun was longer and scoped, an M-14 DMR modded with a suppressor and ghillie camo.

"Spotted another one, make it thirteen guards in the right side over." She radioed in.

"Jesus, that's just the outside." Thatcher muttered to himself. "If we go into the right of front we're going to get slaughtered."

"The backside is the least defended," Glaz shifted his rifle, "there's only about two guards patrolling the pool area."

"It has more surveillance, turn three degrees northwest."

Glaz shifted and looked at the corner of the lens. He saw a black box, a security camera.

"I counted seven of the buggers already, there could be more scattered around." Thatcher pointed out. "We need to get a closer look to assess the security better, or else we'll have to go in hard."

"And that could mean casualties. No wonder they brought ten of us." Glaz sighed. Thatcher leaned off to the side and radioed in to the other team.

The rain began to get heavier, the drips feeling more like pebbles and falling faster and greater volume. "Blue team get your things packed up and ready to go, recon is done for now, head back to base over."

Ghost buzzed back in. "Roger that Gold team, we're disappearing."

Glaz and Thatcher propped themselves up, their thick ghillies hiding their sly movement from the possible eyes of a countersniper. The two muddied and removed any trace of their presence on the log, planting leaves and twigs on their mud imprints. They packed their gear up and loaded them on their ATV's and drove off the area, heading back to base.

Ghost and Ash stayed a bit longer. Making sure they didn't leave a trace of their presence, scattering leaves and flattening their prints. They made it to their ATV's and drove off to their trail.

* * *

"We've counted at least twenty armed guards skulking around the outside of Boleslav's mansion." Mike paced around the screen in the planning room of the building. Everyone glued their eyes to him, some taking notes if they didn't attend to the first recon mission.

Mike brought another image, of what seems to be schematics of the inside of the mansion. It showed multiple rooms and hallways, filled with extravagant or expensive objects. "And considering the amount of space indoors, we can assume he has more men inside."

Elena spoke up. "There must be a weak side, right?"

"There is, the back." The screen slid into an image of the poolside and back entrance of the mansion. "However, there's multiple security cameras that can alert our presence to the security."

"Is there any possible way that we can knock off the power before we go in, so the cameras won't capture us." Jace commented.

"The mansion runs on its own electricity, it doesn't run on the grid." Mike placed his hands on the table. "Which means we have to find their generator. It could be inside the building which could be problem to us."

"If we can't find an external generator it means a full frontal assault." Elias realized. "We need more firepower."

"Luckily our guns and training are bigger and better. In the next few hours I'll send a scouting team to search for a generator if the weather is permitting." Thatcher sighed, turning off the screen. "So far the rain doesn't seem to let up, it's too muddy for traveling much less scouting."

Mike turned away and took a seat on a chair near the corner computer. He opened up some drawers and brought out a puzzle book, half worn and half done. "You're all dismissed, I'll let you know if scouting is a go in an hour. If you want to stay here to work on the mission fee lfree to do so."

Everyone left the room, except for Mike.

"And remember!" Mike called out. "This isn't a vacation. Once today is over and the rain lightens up we each do a job!"

They went to do their own business as the rain outside poured. Gustave sighed and went in to the kitchen to check out the food that stocked the pantries and fridge. He sucked his teeth in the disappointment of the selection in front of him. There wasn't a damn thing in there that wasn't worth eating, all toaster-prepared or microwaveable. Acceptable food for Americans, but not for a Parisian except if he was starving.

It wasn't long until he was joined by someone else in the kitchen. He heard a friendly laugh, before the southern drawl emerged. "I'm guessing you saw the monstrosity of diabetes in the cabinets huh?" Jace joked, entering the space.

"Ugh, yes. American products labeled in German for a team of Spanish, Canadians, and Frenchmen." Gustave sighed. "I don't know how to cook unfortunately, so proper food can't be made with this… dreck."

Jace smiled. "Lucky for y'all I can cook, also certain I can make something out of what this has to offer."

Gustave chuckled. "Really? Please then, save me from essentially starving for a week."

Jace grabbed pot and started filling it with water. "Sure thing Doc, what's your poison?"

"Eh, I can't think of anything. Maybe some bœuf bourguignon, if we have beef." Doc exited the kitchen and sat on a counter seat. He toyed around with an apple in his hands. "If not, I want you to surprise me!"

Jace chuckled as he set the stove on. "I cook up some of quality Louisianian hospitality if the current situation allows me to."

Doc nodded. "I trust that you can make something good enough for us to enjoy, Jace. The fact that the pot hasn't exploded shows that you're a hundred times more confident than our fellow comrades."

Jace pulled a clean kitchen knife from its wooden sheath in the counter and chopped away at a carrot. Steady hands diced up the vegetable easy, the matter done within seconds. "Why, thank you. I take great pride in my cooking. More people should learn to do it."

"You and me both." Doc chuckled.

"Say," Jace stopped to ponder a thought, "isn't there a pond nearby?"

Doc narrowed his brows as he tried to recall a pond. "I believe so—a good sized one—just a few dozen yards out the back."

Jace picked up the carrots and tossed them into the pot. "Go find someone who can fish and some fishing rods, I got an idea on what to cook!"

* * *

The room with the jacuzzi wasn't anything to be very impressed about. A clean wooden hot tub, a couple little counters, and a small towel rack filled up the mostly empty room. Isaac let out a pleased puff as he began to undress himself to his nudity.

He dipped himself slowly into the warm bubbling water, a pleased groan escaping his mouth. After what he had experienced in the dream, he needed to relax.

Isaac looked around the room to see if there was anything of interest to take in, the lack of anything noteworthy bothering him. Being alone with thoughts shouldn't be something he would do, maybe if he played some music…

"Mind if I join you?" The feminine Latin voice called out, Elena's figure shadowed by the light. She was undressed to her sports bra and boxer briefs, pale scarred skin freely exposed. She was short, her lower half carrying ample curves and toned muscles. Her hair was dark and wavy, short but wild enough to flow over her sides. She stared patiently at the man, raising an eyebrow. "Well?"

"Not at all." Isaac cleared his throat. He gestured to the side of the tub. "I'm sure this thing could fit more than me."

Elena didn't say a word as she dipped herself into the tub, sighing in relief. Elena stretched her legs under the water, resting on the other side of the tub. The two sat in an awkward silence, a cursory glance to each other was all that became of it.

"Where do you think the power generator is located at?" Isaac began, swishing some water with his hand.

"Judging from the schematics I'm guessing it's located near the mansion. The thing probably has its own small building dedicated for protection." Elena said.

"Seems like we have a new objective." Isaac sighed stretching into his spot. His legs brushed against hers underwater, and for a moment, he hesitated and recoiled. Elena also jerked back at the sudden touch, but eventually, they both let their legs relax and touch each other.

More moments of silence passed.

"Sabes que," Isaac suddenly announced, "I don't think I thanked you this morning for my incident."

Elena narrowed her brows. Isaac met his dark eyes in her light eyes with guilt. "Even though they rarely come I… I still remember the nights vividly. Like it just happened the night before."

He closed his eyes and sighed. "C-can I count on you to help me with the dreams? I know you help Ryad with his sleeping problems."

Elena gave a sad yet comforting smile. "It's okay Isaac, I'll help anyway I can. You just don't fret yourself over such concerns, especially during a mission."

Isaac huffed, before giving a smile. "Thank you."

The two talked for a few minutes more, hoping that tomorrow's challenges can be met.

* * *

"The damn thing is hard to find Six." Mike sighed, drinking some coffee. Six's face took up the screen, a patient expression on her matured features. "We could scout the entire forest and we couldn't find anything. We need some assistance finding the generator."

Six shifted her arms, peering into the camera. "Alright, I'll try to get some help. This mission is dangerous enough as it is, I don't want to lose any operatives just because they couldn't find the light switch."

Mike sighed and put his mug down. "We should've brought more operators, they could help with defending the fort while we're gone."

"I hear you." Six pressed a key on her table and an image popped up of a young man, pale light features that reminded Mike of the boys from GSG-9. "Meet Fritz Wolfgang, AKA Mozart. A new addition to Rainbow. He's a medic, considering we only have Doc so far. He's currently en route to your location and will meet you shortly."

Mike nodded and accepted the recruit. "Alright Six, I hope you know what you're doing."

"The same to you Baker." Six nodded. "The same to you."

* * *

 **A/N: A tiny bit shorter chapter than the others but an update nonetheless. Also, I got a new forum. It's an R6S forum but mostly to share stories involving self-inserts and OC's!**

 **Also, Sexepedes of the Wasteland is up again. It got removed once more and is now up and running again. Send requests!**

 **On a side note, I actually just got a new guest review on my old story Terra Et Sic. It wasn't a nice one lol. I'd like to say to whoever wrote it I stopped working on it because a SYOC themed story wouldn't have worked on it.**

 **Anyways I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, leave a review on how you felt!**

 **-Mister Bombastic**


	7. Operation Grim Wood: Generator

As the day passed into the next, the rain had calmed down. Now a light drizzle took control of the skies, dark gray clouds looming over the land. Wherever there was little rain, a misty fog took control of the landscape. Inside the cabin Mike had everyone gathered in the Planning room, their eyes painted to the screen which showed a satellite image of the spreaded area.

"Alright, this is the situation." He started off. "We recently gotten some surveillance of the area thanks to Six at HQ. We took pictures of the ten click radius around the mansion using thermal imaging to hopefully detect a generator. We've managed to find it."

The screen switched from its real time coloration to a bluish-red haze, the small block representing the mansion and a much smaller square representing the generator a mile away from the mansion itself. The screen highlighted the are and zoomed up on the generator's location. It then switched to real time coloring and reverted back to the green forest.

"The generator is located about a click and a half away from the mansion on an dense part of the woods, presumably to keep out of harm's way from possible attacks." Mike pointed to the area. "We're going to send a three man team to sabotage the damn thing and place explosives so when the mission is a go we got the upper hand."

"Who's going to the generator?" Gustave asked, breaking the focus.

"I'm gonna ask for volunteers first, to get the ball rolling. Anyone who wants to take it raise your hand or call out."

Ash was the first to raise her hand. "I'll go."

In spite, Elena raised her hand quickly. "I volunteer as well."

Mike looked at the two and sighed. He looked at the team once more. "Anyone else care to join?"

Isaac raised his hand. "I volunteer."

Mike rubbed his brow, muttering to himself. "This is gonna turn out well… okay, mission is a go!"

He turned off the screen and called on Grace, who sat at of the computers set up. "Grace, set GPS for their location. You three," he pointed at the mission goers, "get your gear ready and packed, I'll met you in ten at the ATV's. Team Red is officially set."

"Yes sir." The two women said at the same time. They cross-eyed each other with an intensity that Mike thought he'd only see in boxing movies. "Before anyone goes, I'd like to make an announcement."

The group halted their movement and stayed in place. The screen showed an image of a young man with pale features, another operator. "This is Fritz 'Mozart' Wolfgang, a member of the GSG-9 and a new member to Rainbow. Isaac, Elena, Eliza, he'll be joining you halfway to the location as another medic. When he arrives, he should utter the same phrase that we were made to learn. You're all dismissed"

He sighed and dismissed them. As the others were beginning to leave, Mike motioned for Isaac to stay behind. Grace offered him a smirk as they met eyes, Isaac grimacing the expression. The two men pulled away to the side, his voice lower than before.

"Isaac, I understand that they aren't the best of pals." Mike began.

"Yeah, I think that's pretty apparent." Isaac remarked. "I've read it in their files, but I never would've guessed how 'potent' it would be."

"Which is why I'm making you team leader, if they misbehave in any way you punish them accordingly." Mike grabbed his shoulder. "And there will be misbehaving."

"You'd expect more professionalism with a job like this." Isaac said, walking towards the doorway.

Mike gave knowing smirk. "Despite what the higher ups say we're still all human Isaac, and in a world as shitty as ours it's the only thing that helps us go through the day." He patted his back. "Now go get your shit ready, we have a mansion to sabotage."

* * *

Dressed in the appropriate gear for the mission, he packed light. A day pack strapped securely and an armored vest that held a few pieces of pouches and equipment was all that was needed. Isaac carried with him his personal weapon, an AAC Honey Badger carbine. A weapon with a heavy caliber and integral suppressed system, it fared well in short to medium ranged combat. It was decked out with a reflex sight, an angled grip, and the ANVIS laser sight. His outfit was simple, a netted FAST helmet that held his Specs, a gray water shell jacket, a two-hole dark gray balaclava, and camouflage cargo pants. He had finished earlier than his companions, and leaned against the walled cabin in patience.

The finally came out dressed in their usual gear, except the coloring was in frankly bad coloring in their camouflage. They didn't say a word to each other, meeting Isaac at the ATV's. "Hello ladies, Mike made me team leader so I expect the best behavior. I've seen a lot of professionalism in my time with the Army and CIA, and I expect the same level of discipline from you two."

The women nodded in assurance to Isaac's hopes. Isaac uncovered the ATV's, leaving the tarp draped on the muddy floor. "Good, now let's get going."

The mud had created more hindrance than originally expected. Trailing to the mission location was difficult, breakdowns and full flooded stops frequenting their journey through the forest. By halfway through, most of the operators clothes were halfway covered in a thick cake of mud and the other rubbish of forests. Their guns and equipment weren't the reliable to the mud either, so they took to carrying their own things on their back. Adding to their already worn gear and their efforts to scrape the mud, they quickly became exhausted.

Mira and Ash hadn't spoken a word to each other since the mission began. Although, he can feel the tense atmosphere around them. X-Ray had read about Operation Blue Orion—a hardly successful weapons bust somewhere in the Mediterranean coast— and knew of their prior work experience together. He never got the full details as to why they have such an intense rivalry. Was it for miscredited fame, or perhaps over jealousy over one's performance in the mission?

It didn't matter either way, X-Ray concluded, as so long they dropped it soon.

The two even seemed like they were competing to get their sooner than the other. Ash was winning so far, her bike up the farthest of the trio with Mira closing in fast as she could. Even if they drove a slow pace as per his orders. X-ray felt the need to break the silence first. "Once we're in a half mile vicinity of the location we're ditching the bikes and going in on foot. Understood?"

" _Si compañero_." Mira replied exhaustedly. Ash strained a grunt, simply humming a yes.

X-ray kept his pace slower than the two, keeping a watchful eye on the two. His worries started to take a hold in the back of his mind, if they're like this in just trying to arrive to their location, he couldn't imagine what it would be like during an actual combat scenario.

They rode for another hour, half the time shoveling their tires free after they got swallowed by the mud. X-ray kept himself patient, shoveling the mud smoothly, unlike his team. Ash had finished first and was about to leave, until X-ray called out. "Ash, You'll not leave your team behind! Either help us with the mud or keep watch."

Ash gritted her teeth, staring back at road ahead and at X-ray.

"I'm sorry, I got ahead of myself." She apologized. X-ray nodded, keeping a straight face all the while Mira was a bit taken back at the sudden change of attitude. She grabbed the shovel from her ATV and helped Mira get out of the mud.

"This is definitely something I haven't seen before." Mira whispered to her, flinging away mud. Ash just scoffed.

"Not all missions can be reduced to a rivalry." The redhead said, scraping off the last of the mud. "Besides, he's more stern than the others."

"Alright, let's hit the road." X-ray said, boarding his bike. He grabbed his radio and tuned in to headquarters. "HQ this is X-ray, we're halfway to location over."

The garbled voice of Thatcher came to. "Roger that X-ray, additional support is oscar mike to location. Remain in place until arrival."

"Understood Thatcher, let's hope that he comes soon. Team Red out." X-ray put away his radio. The three stopped dead in the road as the rain trickled into a light sprinkle, followed by a cool wind. The sounds of birds and animals scattered through the empty forest, as they waited quietly for their new arrival. The distant echo of an engine reached their ears, just picking up north of them.

"That must be him, I hope." X-ray withdrew his gun and crouched behind his ATV, the noise slightly getting closer as the seconds passed by. The other two did the same, their weapons ready to fire at the noise. "If it's him, hold your fire. We don't need to expose our position."

Soon the roar of the engine was close enough to make out the ruffling of the branches, the morning fog masking the figure. X-ray pulled down his specs and switched them on. "I'm seeing red."

The landscape turned into a wave of blue and green as he spotted a growing yellow blob coming towards them, turning more orange as it closed the distance. The engine of the ATV suddenly stopped, and the yellow-orange blip stopped movement. Their radio soon crackled, and an unfamiliar voice came into fruition. A Germanic accent grunted in frustration, muttering indecipherable words before speaking clearly. "Is this stupid thing working?"

Ash responded quickly, digging into her radio. "State yourself now or we'll fire upon you."

"This is Mozart, when a whole country's end is so high there's always a rainbow in the sky, ready to report sir." He said.

"Alright Mozart catch up and I'll introduce you to the team." X-ray pulled away his radio. He deactivated his X-ray specs and flipped them up, seeing the shadowy figure emerge from the fog. He closed the gap between them and quickly hopped off his bike. Mozart dressed in navy blue jumpsuit accompanied with typical black Kevlar armor and pouches. His helmet was simple; a black standard Advanced Combat Helmet. On his shoulders, the patch of the GSG-9 and an armor plate carrying a large Red Cross. Everything besides his jumpsuit was black.

"Mozart, I'm X-ray. These two are Mira and Ash and they'll be your teammates for the mission." X-ray mounted back in his ATV. "You'll stay behind us and cover our rear."

"Understood sir." Mozart nodded. "I'll do my best."

The group rode off to their objective without uttering a word. If they make enough noise already they would surely be caught by possible scouts for Boleslav. They continued on their travel as the ground became less bumpy and muddy, the GPS on their PDA's vibrating.

"We're about fifty meters from our stop point, we'll be going on foot once we reach it." X-ray slowed down his ATV as the team was only meters away from their stop point. All their engines died down and lead away from the small trail, hastily covered with a large tarp and covered in branches and leaves from the forest floor. The unpacked their guns and packs and headed their way to the generator shed.

X-ray took point, Ash taking behind him and Mira behind her with Mozart leading the rear. The spreaded out, still a few meters away from each other as they scanned the surrounding forest. X-ray peered behind, focusing on the interactions of Ash and Mira. So far they're behaving well enough, X-ray thought, but let's see how it is when the action starts.

X-ray suddenly spotted a figure of a man and halted the team with a clenched fist. He splayed his hand to the side, signaling to take cover behind logs and trees. With quiet steps, everyone rushed behind cover as X-ray crept up closely and switched on his Specs. The figure of the person becoming completely visible in red haze, except for a black blocky object hanging from a strap on his back. This was bad, this meant there's armed guards only a phone call away from their boss.

The guard looked scruff and scummy, an ugly face for ugly jobs. A perfect aesthetic for bodyguards and trigger men.

X-ray looked around, and saw a heavy branch on the floor. He slowly picked it up and rose it above his head, and brought it down hard. The guard made a groan as he collapsed on the floor, a bloody gash on his shaved scalp.

The guard groaned and tried to reach for a blocky radio. X-ray brought the branch down again with more force, and he stopped moving.

"Tango down." He whispered into his comms. X-ray kneeled down and tossed the log searching the man's pockets. He felt a phone and pulled it out. "Found a present for Dokkaebi."

X-ray looked up and saw the blocky building that was the generator shed. "Found the generator."

"I see it too, moving up." Ash called. She slowly rushed her way towards the shed.

"Ash, stay in your position!" X-ray roughly commanded. "You'll be compromised!"

Ash didn't seem to listen as she moved closer to the shed. X-ray looked back at the other two and motioned to stay put. He grabbed his rifle and paced himself to Ash's speed. Mira cocked her gun slowly and screwed on her silencer. Mozart took her lead and attached one to his MP7. X-Ray was mere feet away from her before she took cover behind a tree.

"We can finish the job if we rush in while we have the chance." She commented to X-ray. "Then we can get the mission rolling."

"Ash, listen." X-ray grabbed her shoulder and roughly swiveled her around. "When I say to stay down I meant stay down. We don't know what these guys are carrying or who they can call if shit hits the fan. Stay down or else."

Ash frowned and narrowed her brows. "Fine, I'm sorry."

X-ray nodded and jerked his head back. "Go in line with the rest, and slap on a suppressor. Just wait until I give the go—"

A hushed crack broke through the silence and a whistle blew pass Ash. X-ray let out a loud cry as his right side launches to the floor and lied still. Ash quickly ducked for cover. "Sniper!"

Two men emerged from the shed with guns drawn and alert expressions. Mira and Mozart quickly reacted and fired few quick shots to the enemies. The blood splattered behind them in a messy spill as they jerked over.

Mira quickly got up and ran to the nearest piece of cover next to the shed. "Where did that shot come from?!"

Ash grunted in shoving X-ray's body behind a more thick toppled log, seeing his wound on the side. She slapped his face a couple of times, but it was no success. His distressed eyes laid closed in the bandana, not responding. "I don't know, Mozart get over here!"

Mozart quickly rushed up to their position before another suppressed crack of the sniper rang. It missed him, the bullet whipping pass his leg. He jumped behind the cover and crawled his way to X-ray, checking his vitals first.

"What's the situation?" Ash hastily muttered, peeking her head above only to duck when the wood beneath her exploded.

"He's alive and breathing." He used a pair of scissors to cut open the straps to his plate carrier, lifting them off his chest. He cut open his jacket to his shirt, and exposed his side. X-ray's flesh was bruised badly, purple flesh mixing in with pale skin and body hair. Mozart sighed in relief. "Ah, looks like a bad bruise! Maybe a bruised rib, but besides that he seemed to be in good shape."

X-ray groaned, much to the relief of the two. "I'm fine. I'm fine." He propped himself up, the outer layer of wood on the tree exploded again. "Sniper shot me on the right side, that means in the northwest," he coughed, wincing as he moved his body, "he's not a good shot, use that to your advantage."

Ash called into her comms. "Mira do you copy?"

"I'm here Ash!" She responded immediately. "Is X-ray okay?"

"He's fine, but I need you to listen." Ash said. "Run towards the northwest and draw his fire away."

"What?!"

"Listen to her." X-ray interrupted. "Draw his fire so Ash can get a clear shot!"

Mira looked over her cover to see the three in the distance who desperately looked at her. She turned as looked over to the north west and saw the small glint of the sniper scope. She fell back into cover and took a deep breath, a small prayer escaping her lips. Mira reached for her rosary that she kept in her shirt and kissed it for protection, before climbing up and climbed over her tree.

Ash peeled over the side and looked through her ACOG for the glint and found the misty figure hidden in a sniper's platform on a high tree. He didn't that Ash peeked as he aimed for Mira.

The sniper responded quick, but his aim was shaky and amateur at best. The tuft of grass and dirt popped under her feet, and she tripped.

"Ash, take the shot!" Mozart hurried.

The sniper fired again, grazing her helmet. Mira let out a scared gasp as it did. Nonetheless she climbed up again and started to run to a mound of rocks near the shed. The sniper took aim, a sure shot now that he adjusted her speed and pulled back the bolt.

Ash pulled the trigger and let out a single pop before it broke through the man's neck, knocking his upper body back before it fell over and off the platform, down to the forest ground below with a loud thud. "He's done for!"

Mira backed herself against the wall and breathed hard as she closed her eyes and hugged her Vector, muttering Spanish curses over and over as the adrenaline started to crash. Mozart was quick responding to the frightened woman, rushing from his cover with X-ray and Ash to her.

"Are you wounded in any way?" He asked, checking for possible entries.

"I'm only wounded when I fail." Mira simply muttered, her breathing now calmed. It wasn't long before ash showed up with an injured X-ray, holding by the shoulder helping him walk. Ash got replaced by Mozart, and so the woman went to kneel next to Mira.

"Thank you." Ash began, taking off her sunglasses. She held out her hand ready for helping Mira up. "For trusting me."

Mira stared into the Israeli's eyes, feeling a bit of relief and acknowledged. "Yeah, you're welcome."

She grabbed Ash's hand and hoisted herself up to face the woman. "Sometimes we just… get along."

Ash agreed.

"We still have a mission to do ladies." X-ray called out. "Plant the explosives and hide the bodies. There's a tent just a few yards away, so it means they're out of touch until their called back. That means we got a perfect chance."

The two women quickly nodded and went inside the shed. There laid the large power generator presumably keeping most of the mansion's power alive. They curtly began sticking a myriad of small explosives all over the building with a long signal to their charge, just far enough to detonate whenever they needed to. They went back outside to meet up with the rest.

X-ray stood on his own, clutching at his side gently. Mozart wasn't with him.

"Where did the new guy go?" Mira asked.

"He's getting the rifle from the sniper." X-ray motioned towards the northwest. "He's checking the caliber of the gun."

"Why?" Ash said, looking at the bodies. They laid there with pools of blood staining the floor below them. She took one of the weapons that the guards had. It was a cheap thing, when she unloaded the magazine it fired a measly .22 caliber. "These guys don't seem very well equipped."

"Exactly. It didn't penetrate my armor but it hurt like a bitch. It'll show what kind of force we're dealing with." X-ray remarked. "If their weapons are cheap, that could mean he has more men to spare."

Mozart returned carrying the rifle of the dead sniper. He held it up for inspection. "Found it, although it's been muddied."

X-ray took the rifle and examined the build, before pulling back the bolt to see its chamber. ".22 large. For an arms dealer Boleslav is cheap."

"Well the charges are all set X-ray." Mira reminded. "Should we get going?"

"Let's hide the bodies in the tent," X-ray pointed over to the east, "they'll rot less."

After a grueling twenty minutes of work, the team left the area and headed back to the ATV's.

"Thatcher this is X-ray, we've successfully planted the explosives. RTB now." X-ray called.

Thatcher soon buzzed in. "Roger that Red team. Just come back in one piece." The radio quickly buzzed down.

After that, they remained silent on their way back to base.

* * *

They reached the base without much delay besides the usual mud track. When they arrived they saw Mike standing on the porch arms crossed with a few other operators. When they parked their quads, Mike began descending the steps. "How many?"

"Four. Armed with cheap weapons." Isaac replied.

Mike once-over'd Isaac after seeing his torn clothes. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Sir, Isaac was shot in the side. His body armor stopped most of the bullet." Mozart reported, coming up behind Isaac. "I had to tear open his clothes to see the full extent of the damage."

"Will he still be able to fight?"

"If he chooses to sir," Mozart continued, "it is nothing beyond a harsh bruise."

Mike pondered for a moment. "Go with Doc and get yourself patched up, you too Fritz."

Mozart helped Isaac up the stairs to the patio. One of the other operators waiting outside was Grace. Isaac gestured Fritz to stop, leaving his support. He pulled out the phone, and tossed it to Grace. She caught it effortlessly.

"Found that on one of the gunmen. We could use it to our advantage." Isaac said.

Grace looked at the device with a mischievous smile. She stashed it away in her pocket, patting it for safety. "Oh, will do."

Mike turned around. "Grace, the sooner you start working on it the better! We don't have time people."

Everyone began to pour inside the house except for Eliza and Elena, who stood silently next to each other as they began to slowly travel to the inside. They reached the patio steps, Elena broke the ice.

"You know you owe me one for that baiting right?" She playfully remarked. Ash let out a small chuckle, opening the door.

"Yeah, I know. But you have to admit, I did a good job getting their before you." Elena walked inside, rolling her eyes at the comment. "...but yeah, I owe you one."

Eliza followed close by and closed the door behind her.

* * *

 **A/N: New chapter! We've found the generator, now the final assault looms on the horizon. Also, Ash and Mira are getting along! But how long will that last?**

 **No real news to my profile as of yet. Except for a question, how would you guys feel for a Fallout 4 SYOC? I won't really start it unless I see what you guys say first**

 **Leave a review, it helps a lot!**

 **-Mister Bombastic**


	8. Operation Grim Wood: Assault

"Breathe in."

Isaac expanded his chest.

"Breathe out."

Isaac exhaled. Gustave moved around a stethoscope over a gauze'd chest, ice packs pressed tightly under the pink fabric. Isaac winced, a jab of pain merging from his side causing a small groan to escape. Gustave hummed quickly, and pulled his stethoscope lower to his side. "Any pain?"

"A little jab in the right side." Isaac replied. "Other than that, I don't feel any more pain."

"Then you should feel fine." Gustave stashed away his stethoscope. "As long as you don't lay on you side you should recover nicely."

"What will this mean for the mission, can I still be able to attack?" Isaac patiently slid off the table, socks meeting with the hardwood floors. He tried to raise his arm, only to quickly cower at the burning pain. He winced, Gustave wrote a note quickly into his notepad.

"If the mission is to happen tomorrow as planned, then I'd say no. Any more pressure or injury to your side can result in severe internal bleeding and possible breaking of the skin." Gustave leaned on the table. "You could also bruise your organs or ribs, and you'll be out for a longer period."

"I thought I was shot with a .22, to my armor that's nothing. Guess I saw the wrong caliber." Isaac tried to put on a T-shirt, but failed, wincing at the flooding pain from trying raise his arm. "Fuck, that hurts likes a bitch."

"Leave your shirt off you can't put it on." Gustave said, helping him adjust his gauze. "I'm sorry but if you can't put on a shirt, I don't think you'll be able to fight mon amie."

"Let's just go downstairs, I want to see what the others are up to." Isaac muttered, heading towards the hall.

Gustave followed suit. "Lead the way."

They reached the Planning room where Mike was once again leading the debriefing with the screen zooming up on a satellite image of the mansion. "Nice for you two to join us."

"Nothing that's life-threatening." Isaac commented. "Just hurts a lot."

Mike nodded and turned to Gustave. "Will he be able to continue for the mission."

"Unless he's recovered by tomorrow, no."

"In that case, you'll defend the fort while we're gone." Mike sighed, and pressed a button on his remote that showed the same pictures from their recon. "Now that the bombs are planted we have the chance to hit him. I'd usually initiate it few hours after the sabotage but in the case for Isaac, it's better we wait 'till we receive better visibility."

John rose his hand.

"Yes John?"

"What role was Isaac going to play?" The Canadian asked. "It'll be best suited if he did go on the mission."

"I'll get to that in a moment." Mike answered. "There's two teams that'll breach the back and front side of the mansion. Gold Team and Silver Team will consist of a group of four and five respectively, two will stay back at base defending and purging whatever data we have of our presence."

Grace grimaced. "We have to destroy the computers?!"

Mike nodded, Grace let out an exaggerated sob. "Please Mike, is there any way we can spare them?"

"If we had more manpower than yes, we could spare them. However since only eleven of us are here we have to make do and destroy as much evidence as possible." Mike continued on the mission detail. "As I was saying, Gold Team will be approaching the front of the house while Silver Team breaks in through the backdoor hard and dirty."

A small amount of snickering were had. Elias shook his head. "Poor wording old man."

"That's it Kötz, next time we go drinking your paying," Mike threatened, then he placed a hand on Timor's shoulder, "Glaz here would provide sniper fire from the front side. He'll move in once the mansions been breached."

"Thanks to the PDA Isaac recovered during his time at the generator, and to Grace's hacking skills, we have learned there is a smaller backup generator inside the compound. These will power most of the interior rooms, but we have complete control. Including security cameras inside the mansion."

Grace have a smug look of success. The thin woman has yet again broke expectations.

"Suppose that Boleslav escapes, are we allowed to wound him?" Elias asked.

"Taking him alive is top priority, but if the situation calls for it, put the fucker down." Mike emphasized with a firm finger jab to the table. "A scummy person like him probably deserves it."

Timur took Mike's spot in mission details. "As you continue through the building, I'll warn you if any reinforcements arrive. Bunker down in the house, GSG-9 and police forces will come to take over and mop up the mess."

"Any more questions?" Mike saw no ticks indicating any. "Good, eat something and get some sleep. We're leaving at four in the morning while we have them off-guard. That concludes briefing."

Everyone began to leave the planning room as Grace stayed behind and went to work on her hacking of the PDA. Mike walked behind her chair and glanced at the running walls of code and text that flooded the screens. "How the fuck can you keep up with all that shit."

"Simple really," Grace didn't even look back, "but if I explained it you'd probably be lost almost right away."

"Yeah I would, you cheeky bastard," Mike smirked, "that's why you're staying too."

"What, really?"

"Yes, you're really the only one who can do this stuff." Mike said.

"Fine, but I get to go next time." Grace said.

Mike shook his head. "That's not always up to me y'know. You can still use your shooting skills if they manage to send a few baddies our way."

"It's a shame we're getting rid of all this." She gestured casually to the screen. "This is some good hardware."

"It'll take too long to package all these things back, especially since Isaac's injured."

"I'll pack some of the equipment right now, if I got some help." Grace suggested. Mike looked up at the clock and considered the time. It wasn't terribly late, but the sun was going down soon, and if the forest wasn't dark already without the sun their environment was basically a black void.

"You got thirty minutes." Mike decided. Grace began to squeal in excitement. "Take, I dunno, two others with you that decided not to eat right now."

Grace nodded and brought out her radio. Even though everyone was off duty, they kept their radios on for emergency. "Anyone deciding not to eat? I need help moving the computer equipment back to the truck."

The brief voice of John spoke. "I'll help. Waiting in the living room."

Grace waited for another response but it came up empty. "Geez, what a crowd." She looked around to see how much actual equipment was here, and her expression went from excited to downtrodden.

Mike gave a sardonic smile, patting her shoulder twice and laughing, began leaving the room. "You have fun with your computers."

* * *

The mud squelched beneath the boots of the two operators as they loaded the heavy computer servers back into the truck. Grace grimaced as she dragged the slick design of the servers through slick mud. She looked over to her partner, who carried the serves in his hands instead of dragging it across the floor like her. Figures, Grace isn't particularly very strong.

John didn't utter a word for the pass hour they've been moving this. Grace often complained, but he seemed to ignore it or simply just braved through her constant bickering. A strong silent type. After she heaved the server onto the truck, she rested on the side of it.

"Ah, I'm tired." She announced. John simply put the server back into the truck. "What about you John, tired yet?"

He shook his head. Grace narrowed her face. "Not really much of a talker are you?"

"Not really." He coolly replied. Grace expression picked up.

"So you do talk." She smiled. "Was starting to think that you were a mute."

Grace she saw a hint of a smile. "I just prefer to not to talk."

"People will think you're weird, y'know."

"People think that you're annoying." He replied bluntly. "They think you're too intrusive and smug about your abilities."

Grace was taken back, but swallowed her pride. "Do… do people really think of me like that?"

"I just heard that from Mike." He said. "But you have to admit, you don't look or act professional."

"That's kinda the point…" Grace soured. She clenched her fist and headed back towards the porch. John turned around and tried to call her back.

"naneun geuleul boyeojuji. geuga nugulago saeng-gaghani…" she muttered under her breath, heading back into the house. John looked back and sighed, she didn't seem to notice she left one more server on the porch.

* * *

A few of the operators had gathered around the table and stared at the plate of freshly cooked food in front of them. The plate was filled with a medium sized fish and a handful of steamed vegetables, with a good portion of mashed potatoes and lemon slices. It certainly was a better alternative compared to the microwaveable and toaster ready pastries.

Only about seven the table. Grace preferred the microwaveable food, Timur worked on his art, Ash had already ate her fill, and Elena had already fallen asleep. The rest decided to eat together in a calmed setting. Jace had cooked up the food with the help of Gustav and made it presentable for the team.

"Alright everyone," Jace announced, "dig in!"

Everyone began to dig their utensils into their food and savored the taste of actual cooked food they hardly got to eat. Minutes passed, and the group had eaten most of their plates. They began telling jokes and washing away their food with light beer, if it can even be called that, Elias remarked accurately.

Isaac ate slowly. Laughing and talking made his chest hurt, so he kept it to a minimum. Whenever the rest laughed or acted giddy, he'd share their feelings by offering a large smile. It irked him, however, for him to get injured so recklessly thanks to him failure to command. A bit of him also blamed Team Rainbow's apparent lack of professionalism and personal gripes, but he figured it's best to let those feelings dissipate away.

John had noticed Isaac's deep thought. He leaned to his side and attempted a try at helping. "Is something wrong Isaac?"

"Hm?" Isaac turned, broken from his thought, "oh, it's nothing really."

"Is your side alright?"

Isaac slowly lifted his arm. Underneath the gauze and ice packs, his skin laid purplish and red. "Hurts. Definitely wasn't a .22 that hit me."

John examined the wound, seeing the contrasting white ring of the actual bullet bruise. "Doesn't seem like it, maybe he had a better caliber loaded."

"That could mean the stakes are higher…"

Mike ringed his glass and everyone stopped chatting. He stood up, raising his glass for all to see. "Everyone, I'd like to thank everyone for coming along this mission. It's of the utmost importance, and I'm glad I'm fighting besides you. Whatever happens tomorrow, let's make the most out of tonight. Cheers!"

Everyone raised their bottles and glasses, and toasted along with him. "Cheers!"

Isaac gave a bittersweet smile. This could be his last night here, it could be anyone's, or all of theirs. He sipped the water and watched the comrades-in-arms take their jests and chatted away. For now, Isaac decided, he could worry about it in the morning.

* * *

In the misty dawn the operators had prepped themselves for the mission, dressed in their fatigues and armor as they began loading up into their armored trucks. Thatcher stood dressed in his woodland uniform, loading a magazine to his AR33. The last member of the team loaded up, and he stepped into the doorway. He turned to Isaac nearing the truck, dressed lazily in a loose shirt.

"If the location is compromised X-ray, leave it, no point in saving it. Meet up just outside the base and join us in the assault."

"Understood sir." X-ray said. "Grace and I will rendezvous once it's completed."

Thatcher nodded and loaded himself into the truck, claiming the door behind him. Isaac returned to the house as the trucks began their trek towards the final step in the mission. X-ray quickly headed into the study where a laptop and a headset was set for him. Dokkaebi stood nearby, her M14 perched against a wall ready for any conflict. X-ray slipped on

"This is X-ray, Gold and Silver Team do you copy?"

"Da, this is Silver." Glaz replied.

"Gold Team reporting." Thatcher called out. "What's our sitrep?"

"Dokkaebi is patching your PDA's to the mansions CCTV cameras. Right now we're seeing the feed. Everything seems to be in lockdown, the guards are more alert than ever. Something tells me they discovered the bodies." The camera feed switched around to various views of the interior building. They switched around, each showing guards running around and panicked.

It switched to a lone hallway where the beginning of two people began coming into view. Finally their bodies were shown. One of them dressed similarly to the guards, black suit and dress shoes, but the other looked more casual. He wore a large collared shirt that stretched over a wide belly. His face was scruffy, his hairline balding back and wispy. It was him, it was Boleslav!

But, there was others with him. A more mature woman, covered in expensive clothing and tuned with plastic surgery walked worriedly along with him, and then a teenage boy and a little girl not far behind him. X-ray grimaced, it must be his family. The bastard brought his family and didn't bother to send them back to whatever luxury resort or villa they owned.

"We've just got eyes on Boleslav. He has civilians with him so take caution. What's your ETA?"

"We've still got quite the way until we reach our destination." Glaz called. "ETA forty minutes."

"Shit, Boleslav might leave." X-ray cursed. The screen showed Boleslav walking into a room, disappearing from the camera angle. "Dokkaebi, switch the feed!"

"On it!" The screens flickered between different cameras until it came up in the room camera, where Boleslav occupied. Metal sheets were falling down on the windows and walls, shielding him from possible outside threats. Suddenly, a large bookcase began to slowly creep open, signaling an escape tunnel.

"Oh no," X-ray has feared that Boleslav would somehow try to escape through unaccounted escape room. "Ash, activate the charges, we're making them go dark."

With a click of her detonator, the powershed suddenly exploded, it's debris flying across the woodland scenery. The cameras showed that the mansion had lost power, few rooms containing power thanks to their backup generator. The room where Boleslav hid had darkened, the escape door stuck with only a few inches of space open. Boleslav ordered the guards with him to pull it open, but to no avail. The door was too thick and strong. X-ray grinned, they had him trapped like a rat. The family members remained calmed, though the little girl was crying in fear.

"Dokkaebi," X-ray called out, "can you run the cams?"

"Yep, easy as pie." She typed into her keyboard with codes and data, her expression concentrated on the task. "Cameras are ours, and I routed all power to them."

X-ray nodded in approval. When Dokkaebi can do her job, she does it perfect. "Gold and Silver this is X-ray, how's it going over there?"

"We're making better time," Glaz called in, "ETA thirty minutes."

"Alright people, once we reach the house remember the rules of engagement! There's civvies in the house, including his family. There's no need for more body bags." X-ray leaned back into a chair. This mission just got a hell of a lot harder.

* * *

The trucks stopped far enough away from the mansion that they couldn't be detected from the watchful eyes of the guards. Both of them had circled around the mansion, one more towards the back and the other just a few dozen meters from the road that lead up to it. Glaz has perched himself on top of a hilly mound and flickered on his scope, the yellow heat signatures of the guards coming to life.

"I'm in position." He radioed in, resting himself easily against the nature. He had coated himself in the ReflecSheet that Ghost lent to him, but in all honesty, it made him stand out even more in his eyes. He checked again, the guard sniper seemed to prepare to perch up too, laying low on a roof.

"I'm firing when ready." Glaz radioed. "Give the signal."

Over to the outskirts of the mansion, Thatcher perched himself behind a maintenance shed only a hundred feet away from the front entrance. He turned to his left, joined with Ash, Doc, and Alchemist. He peeked over the side, and spotted the sniper getting prepared for an attack.

On the other side, Blitz trained along Ghost, Mira, and Mozart. He swallowed hard, Blitz knew this was going to be difficult. He smirked under the mask. "If anyone needs to go to the bathroom, do it now!"

Thatcher sighed at the radio transmission, but his feelings of contempt were immediately gone when the sniper on the rooftop perched himself up and noticed Thatcher. "Shit, I've been spotted. Prepare for assault. Glaz, take the shot!"

Glaz leaned into his rifle and aimed his reticle at the man's head and fired. The bulletin dropped and hit him under his armpit, a fatal wound. His spotter immediately stood up in shock as Glaz shifted lower and placed another shot into his back, toppling the man over the rail of the roof. The guards below rushed the body as they radioed in about the man.

Thatcher quickly threw an EMP grenade at the crowd and knocked out their radios, before firing into the front of the mansion's doors. The guards scattered, one toppling over dead. Ash and Doc and sprinted to the next available piece of cover, a ornamental railing on the side of the driveway and threw a flash grenade, opening fire. Alchemist flanked and went towards another smaller piece of rail on the other side of the shed, and opened fire.

On the other side, Blitz and his team rushed to the nearest piece of cover and began to open fire. They had more men to fight against the front side, and relied on Glaz's sniper cover. Glaz leaned down and aimed at another guard, and put him down.

Blitz rushed behind cover, tilting his shield to fire. He unloaded a full magazine to a guard, killing him. Blitz pressed the flash charge, and blinded another man as Ghost shot him in the head. The two moved forward, covering behind the pool lounge's cabinet.

Mira and Mozart rushed behind cover towards the right side of Blitz. Mira sprayed randomly into the cowering guards, suppressing them. Mozart quickly dived for cover, peeking up and firing bursts at the enemies. The guards returned fire, effectively pinning down the team.

"Glaz, we need covering fire!" Blitz called into his radio. Glaz shifted again and aimed at the guards central mass, squeezing the trigger. He hit one, making him slam into the floor. He shifted up, and put down another one. Blitz took the chance and rushed up, flashing his shield to two blinded guards. He emptied half his magazine into one of them, and took a single shot to the forehead of the other.

Mira sprayed half her mag through an overturned plastic table, the red mist popping behind it as a guard keeled over. She ran up looking for the next piece of cover while Mozart covered her. They were closer to pushing into the back of the house, only a couple more guards left.

Thatcher and his team moved quickly into the house, Alchemist setting his breaching charge onto the doors. They lined up on the wall, and he detonated the charge. They swarmed in, seeing two guards shield their face from the explosion. Doc and Ash quickly took them out, checking the corners to find them empty. Inside the main entrance stood an elegant and luxurious interior, with a winding staircase leading to the next level with two large hallways perpendicular to it. Thatcher quickly radioed in his status. "This is Thatcher, we've made it inside!"

"Roger that, Silver Team what's your status?" X-ray asked.

The last guards at the back were stubborn, laying all their ammunition back at the operators. Blitz manage to call in, bullets destroying the cover he had. "We're pinned down and Glaz doesn't have a shot!"

Mira peeked over and unloaded another magazine at the two men, before being met with the same. She quickly ducked, getting grazed on her helmet. "Hijo de puta!" She cursed, quickly checking her head.

"Just a graze on your helm, nothing bad!" Mozart assured, changing his magazine.

Ghost quick ran to the next obstacle as he vaulted over a table to a small wall, checking out a grenade from his vest. "Frag out!" He chucked it over the wall right in front of the guards. The both cowered back into the house, the grenade destroying the strewn objects and the main back doorway.

Blitz quickly vaulted out of his cover and rushed to the splintered door, being met with more enemy fire. His shield took the hits, quickly flipping it sideways and firing back. The guards retreated deeper into the mansion, turning at the next corner. Blitz signaled for the rest to come in.

The team lead their way to join him as they checked the windows for any possible. They cleared it, and joined in at the interior of the building, into what seemed to be a small kitchen and bar. "We're in, Silver Team is in!"

"Good job people, now all that's left is extracting Boleslav. He's in the third story, center right room." X-ray switched to cams of the building. The lights were off, but the light outside was enough to illuminate the rooms and hallways. Dokkaebi switched through the cameras, seeing one hallway had three men rushing towards the main lobby.

She quickly put on a headset. "Gold Team, there's three baddies on your way, right side!"

Thatcher quickly leaned towards the hall on the right. He spotted the three men heading towards him, immediately firing at them. The edges of the walls exploded in fragments. Thatcher quickly recoiled. "Shit, we need some ordinance."

"I'm on it." Ash took out her breaching round loading it into her M120, and peaked the corner. She pulled the trigger, and the floor where the three stood exploded underneath them. They flew, and didn't get back up. "All clear."

The moved through the destroyed hallway, weapons peeking around corners of additional rooms in the side. Alchemist pumped a few rounds to one guard hiding in a closet, his body slumping over to the floor. The hallway was cleared, and they turned the corner.

"Gold Team, Silver Team's just the next hallway on the right." X-ray's chimed. "Check your fire."

Thatcher took point and lead the team to the hallway. They were hit with relief when they saw the other team at the end of the hallway, and lowered their guard just by the slightest. Thatcher quickly scurried close. "Blitz, so good to see you."

"Nobody pissed their pants I hoped?" He joked, quickly looking around. "Time is short, let's continue with the mission."

Their comms buzzed in. "This is Dokkaebi, you got five baddies heading your way just the floor above."

"Team, shoot up through the floor, that'll learn 'em. Shoot on my count." X-ray suggested. The two groups looked up while Mozart and Ghost covered the hallway ends. They aimed their weapons up, and waited on the footfalls.

The thuds of heavy footprints began above them. X-ray spoke softly through their radios, counting down.

"Three... two... one!"

They lit up the ceiling and heard the surprise screams of the guards. In the cabin, Dokkaebi and X-ray watched as the floor beneath them get eviscerated. Two fell down to the floor, not moving any longer. The remaining guards scurried back to their room.

"Good job team, two tangos down. Move up to the third floor." X-ray quickly switched around the camera's until he found Boleslav. His teenage son and him were attempting to pull open the secret door, but it was stuck. "They're still stuck. You've got them trapped for extract."

He switched off the team channel and began dialing up Six on his phone. After a few short rings she picked it up.

"Talk to me, what's the progress with the mission?"

"We've got Boleslav cornered, but we need an aerial extract." X-ray changed to the feed, seeing the team take down a hapless enemy on the staircase. "And we need it soon."

"I'll get the GSG-9 to give you a helicopter. Stay with the team and lead them out of there safely." Six commanded. "Is there civilians?"

"He has his family with him."

He heard Six sigh through the phone. "Alright, take them too. I'll send reinforcements from the GSG-9, they'll be there to escort the family for interrogation."

"Understood, X-ray out." He put down the phone and switched back to the radio channel. "Alright guys, what's your sitrep?"

The team caught a firefight between a dozen guards between them and the next staircase. Blitz lowered his shield and emptied his magazine to the other side. He reloaded, and began to charge towards them. "I'm coming through!"

He flashed an enemy and shot him dead. He raised his shield and flashed, blinding another two. Ash and Ghost took out those two without problem, the team began moving up. As the remaining guards retreated up the stairs, one of them pulled out a small, round object. Blitz eyes widened, and he braved his shield up. "GRENADE!"

The guard tossed it right in front of Blitz. He was knocked back meters as the grenade exploded. He slid across the floor when he landed and laid still. His shield was scorched Black and tossed away from his arm. Doc and Mozart immediately rushed towards him, Thatcher firing reflexively at the tosser. He easily put him down, leaving his body full of bullet holes. "Man down!"

Blitz groaned as he shifted achingly on the floor. Doc lifted up his head as Mozart flashed a light into his eyes. "Ah! Get that light out of my face."

"He seems to be okay." Doc concluded, Mozart giving a reluctant chuckle. Blitz grabbed the shoulder of Mozart and hoisted himself up.

"Let me get...ah!" He groaned, clutching his shoulder. "I think I broke my shoulder."

"Merde," Doc cursed, bringing out a gauze roll. He quickly wrapped up his arm, and lifted him up slowly. "Let's get up mon amie."

The window on the side of them broke, Glaz's feet crunching the glass and wood below. He left his spot after seeing that he was no longer needed there. He joined the team, and began to ask. "Is Blitz fine?"

"What the hell just happened?!" X-ray demanded, his voice coming through the radio.

"Blitz just ate an impact 'nade." Thatcher replied, reloading his rifle. "He's got a broken shoulder, but that's the extent of it."

"GSG-9 reinforcements are on your way." X-ray informed. "They'll be there soon. For now keep moving up, one of the medics can take Blitz out and wait for backup."

"Mozart, you're taking Blitz." Thatcher ordered. "Everyone else will continue the mission."

The two teams left up to the staircase. Mozart picked up Blitz by his good shoulder and led him out of the second floor. "Are you doing good? Any other pain?" Mozart asked.

"No, just my shoulder." Blitz replied. "You can play doctor when I get my arm fixed."

The team ascended up to the third floor and began to clear out the rooms they encountered. Each of them were empty, the remaining guards emptying around the hallway's center with hands in the air. "Cuff them." Thatcher commanded, bringing out a pair of zip tie cuffs. "We don't want to take any more time!"

Glaz and Ash immediately began to push them down and tie them up. Thatcher ordered Ghost and Glaz to escort the prisoners down to meet with Mozart and Blitz in the driveway. "Make sure they don't run off," Thatcher told them, "if they do put a bullet in them."

They nodded, and lead the prisoners downstairs and away from the floor. It was just the remaining group of Thatcher, Ash, Alchemist, Doc, and Mira. "X-ray this is Thatcher, where's the bloody room."

"Just keep walking straight and make the first right, and it'll be right there." Dokkaebi answered quickly. "GSG-9 forces just arrived!"

"Finally this is done with." Thatcher muttered, as they moved towards the room. From what they could gather, it seemed to be the personal office of Boleslav, heavily barricaded with metal walls with no windows available. They were similar to the reinforcements that they used in their own missions, if not the same kind.

"Time for some home improvement." Mira smirked, bringing out her Black Mirror. She suctioned it to the wall and pressed down her pressurizer, the window flicking on and blasting away the thin metal and wood. It showed the Boleslav family cowering at the sudden debris. Boleslav turned and grabbed a pistol and fired at the window, but to no avail.

"Boleslav, there's no reason to wait in there and die, come out with your hands up!" Thatcher yelled. Alchemist began to place his specialized breaching tape, metal-eating acid for silent breaches. He put enough for two men to push through, when they needed to.

"I'll never come out of here dogs," Boleslav spat, "you'd have to kill me."

"We know your family is in there Boleslav!" Ash yelled. "Don't make it harder for them too!"

Boleslav turned around and saw his family cowering behind the desk. He quickly turned, agitated they mentioned them. "How dare you talk about my family, do you know who I am?!"

"You're family will be safe if you surrender right now Boleslav!" Thatcher added. "For the sake of your kids, just come out."

"Fuck you!" He blindlessly began shooting at the window, the bullets smashing against the Mirror like rain drops to windows. He kept firing, until one ricocheted off the window and into his side. Boleslav cursed as he toppled down, grabbing his side in pain. His wife screamed, and went to him, while his teen son held back his daughter as she started crying.

Thatcher placed a small breaching charge in the box of the tape. "Alchemist, activate it now!"

"Activating Acid." He clicked his detonator. The wall began sizzling and smoking as the metal was slowly being eaten away, until it finally finished and the wall became loose and flimsy. It needed an extra punch.

"Stand back!" Thatcher yelled, the family cowering behind the desk as Boleslav's short became worryingly soaked in blood. "Charge clear!"

The wall made a small explosion as they team pushed inside and quickly checked on Boleslav. Thatcher quickly cuffed him, while Doc tried to fix his wound. "It's dangerous," Doc started, "we need immediate medical help."

The others quickly cuffed the remaining family members and headed them out of the way of the room. Thatcher picked Boleslav up as soon as his bandage was secure. He became more pale as he stepped. "X-ray this is Thatcher, package is secure!"

"Good job, make it outside. Reinforcements have arrived."

They rushed towards the outside, where a swarm of police cars and trucks circled the mansion. When the team brought Boleslav's family out, a group of officers began to escort them. "We'll take care of them," a GSG-9 officer eased them.

"Please do." Thatcher mumbled, as medics began to work on Boleslav. He met up with Mozart and Glaz, seeing Blitz sitting on a car hood with a blanket over his shoulders. "Nice to see you're all cozy."

"Thanks, nice to see you didn't completely kill the HVT."

"Eat me." Thatcher said. "Where's the helo?"

"Should be coming in a few minutes. Grace and Isaac are on their way." Glaz leaned off the car hood. "And Boleslav?"

Doc soon joined the group. "He's wounded, but he'll manage."

"How did he get wounded?" Blitz asked.

"Bastard started shoring a Black Mirror Mira sat up, ricocheted and hit him." Thatcher explained.

"Unbelievable." Blitz chuckled.

"What an exciting mission. Are all of Rainbow's operations just like this?" Mozart asked, looking around at the mass amount of carnage done to the mansion.

"No, this is just Tuesday. You should see how it on Friday." Blitz joked again. The group chuckled, with Mozart giving a nervous laugh.

The helicopter had finally arrived, landing on the open space where the Gold team had ran across in the beginning of the mission. The team started to head towards it, Boleslav being dragged along with them. On the helicopter Dokkaebi and Isaac waited with their equipment in hand. Dokkaebi smiled. "Did you guys die?"

"Just a little bit." Blitz responded. "A few beers should do the trick."

Boleslav groaned on the seat he was forced on. "I should've just shot myself."

Everyone had boarded the helicopter. Isaac signaled the pilots to take off and away from the mansion. Everyone rested in their seats, taking off their helmets or hats and sighing in relief. Isaac looked around the group in his helicopter. Their faces were tired, but proud of another mission success. This must be a common sight for them, leaving the mess of battle behind them with a modest sense of justice done. He felt proud that he was apart of this mission as well, but he had a deep feeling in his gut that somehow, this was gonna end soon. Isaac wi dread the day when it comes, but for now, the battle was won, and he headed back to his new home.

* * *

 **A/N: Operation Grim Wood has officially ended! Thank you guys for supporting this far into the story with your reviews and messages, it really help make the drive of writing this story!**

 **My next operation will start in about one or two chapters, so stay tuned.**

 **Other news: My hiatus is over, I'll be returning to normal pacing. My internet is actually down, so I've been using my phone and data to finish up this chapter. Please excuse any grammatical mistakes, I can't check them through a online checker.**

 **I'll be probably starting another story both her and on Ao3, basically based off an idea I had a couple nights ago. I'll give you guys a tip; it's Siege and Overwatch.**

 **I hoped you've all enjoyed this chapter.**

 **-Mister Bombastic**


	9. Intermission: 1

**TW: Torture, slight racism, and graphic abuse coming up**

* * *

Behind the murky mirror, Boleslav sat disgruntled in an empty room, a single ceiling lamp illuminating the gray metal table. He clasped his cuffed hands patiently, looking menacingly through the one way mirror. Eliza frowned, turning away from the mirror and looking at the laptop on the other side of the box of a room. Even with Jack's interrogation method, Boleslav didn't budge.

"He's tough," Isaac commented, his features slightly turning to the side. "But not impossible."

"I know that," Eliza grabbed the laptop and brought it to the table in front of their side of the mirror. "I'm wondering if he's reliable enough. The White Masks are good at hiding their paper trails."

"If he was a loose end, they would've killed him," Isaac concluded. "And if the intel about him is correct, then we should get an idea of at least where their next attack is happening."

Eliza sighed. "Despite her methods, Taina is good at extracting info from detainees. Although…"

"Although what?"

"She can possibly injure him in the process. It's happened before when she was in BOPE, but she hasn't had the chance to interrogate an actual person since," Eliza quickly typed away on the laptop. "I'd figure she can try to get some intel this one time."

"You sure Six would allow it?"

"There must be a reason she's accepted," Ash replied. "She's already deranged enough."

Isaac chuckled, stroking his chin. "Maybe I can take a shot at it."

"Please," Ash scoffed, "we don't need a higher water bill."

Isaac had to chuckle at the jest. He walked away from the window and pulled out a chair. "You got me there."

Eliza pulled out her phone and ringed up Taina, setting up the speaker. She looked at Boleslav through the glass. He must've felt her eyes, because he turned to look at the window and winked coyly. She shuddered, and hoped Taina answered soon.

The Brazilian woman finally answered. "What is it."

She didn't seemed like the person to be polite on the phone, both of them thought.

"Taina, come meet me at the interrogation room." Eliza replied. There was no point in keeping up conversation in a time like this.

"Oh? What you caught for me this time?" She said, an uneasy tone of excitement in her voice.

"Arms dealer, Russian, and angry. You got ten to make it or I'm continuing with the—"

"I'll be there by two," Taina responded quickly. "Don't wait up."

The call ended, Eliza slid it back into her pocket. She looked uneasily at Isaac, who shares her feelings of unrest. "Maybe it'll work out."

"Maybe it won't," she sighed. Eliza grabbed a pot of coffee on the table and poured it into a mug. She offered the pot to Isaac, denying the offer politely. It wasn't long before the door knocked, rather impatiently and forceful. Isaac opened the door, and Taina strode her way in almost immediately. Isaac closed the door behind her, and tried to explain the situation.

Despite her social profile and personality, Taina was rather more statuesque and attractive without her usual getup. Her strong features were narrowed with determination, the hint of a smile on her lips was present. Her hair was braided as usual, thick and dark as ever. This was the woman that was feared within BOPE and Rainbow, she looked like she could've been a model, had she chose a different route in life.

"Boleslav's been keeping quiet despite our attempted interrogation. We don't have time, so do whatever you think is necessary to get whatever info you can."

"That won't be a problem," the Brazilian grinned. "I'll make that little birdy sing."

"Think you've got the necessary tools?" Isaac commented. "All we have is the coffee mugs."

Taina looked at the table with the coffee machine and mugs. A sly grin came over her face, her hands quickly reaching for the pot and two mugs. "Mind if I borrow this?"

Ash grimaced. "Not at all, just please be careful."

Taina opened the door to the hallway and quickly made her way inside the room with Boleslav. She said nothing as she placed herself down on the seat and poured herself a cup of coffee. Boleslav took a look over her and began to laugh, slamming his fists down on the table. He looked at the window, his hands gesturing to Taina. "What is this?! You think an exotic woman can make me talk?! Haha!"

Taina didn't say anything, sipping her coffee as the older man laughed away. Isaac could've sworn that a tear began rolling down his chubby cheek, making him frowned. Eliza sighed and held her face in her hands, the laughing slowly dying down to suppressed giggles. Boleslav looked at Taina once more, and spoke up, his voice more broken than before.

"I'm sorry girl, but I couldn't hold back. What do you intend to do to me that's gonna make me talk?" He smiled. It was an uncomfortable smile, one that disgusted the two behind the one-way mirror. Taina said nothing, but offered a mug to the arms dealer.

"Coffee?" She asked, wiggling the mug.

Boleslav grinned maliciously. "Mmm, if you're offering it, my coffee-colored beauty."

Isaac could've sworn he saw Taina's face twitch into anger. She stood up and offered the cup, Boleslav graciously reaching for it. At the moment, Boleslav was about to grab the mug, but in a flash Taina flicked her wrist. Hot coffee splattered all over Boleslav's face, immediately recoiling back and screaming in pain as he held his face.

"Aaahhh! AAAAHHHH!" Boleslav cried out, falling out of his feet. "You bitch! You fucking bitch!"

Taina stood up and went around the table, kicking him over to his side as she tore open his shirt to see the bandaged bullet wound. She placed her boot on it and pressed down, his groaning increasing. "Still tender?"

Eliza watched uneasily as she continued to hurt the man, but Isaac didn't flinch. He had seen much worse before, and he knows Taina's capable of so much more.

"Talk, and I'll be nice desgraçado." Taina said, quickly jabbing her foot to the wound. Boleslav let out a howl of pain, her foot placed on firmly on his side.

"Fuck you!" He exclaimed. "fuck you you spic bitch!"

"That wasn't what I wanted to hear," Taina calmly replied, opening up the bandage. She lifted the coffee pot over his wound and poured the still hot coffee into the fleshy mess. He let out a more shrieking howl as he tried to crawl away from her clutches.

"Jesus…" Eliza held her mouth. Isaac side-eyed her, feeling it was best just to say nothing. They watched in silence as Taina started to pick up the man and place him back into the seat.

"Now tell me, where did you sell your weapons, Who are your contacts?" She menanced, lifting him up by the collars of his shirt.

"I-i won't ever tell you whore! I've thrown away Brazilian harlots like you in the streets like garbage!" He spat. Taina delivered a hard punch to his mouth, disordering his teeth. He spat out blood and coughed up what didn't swallow.

"Tell me now!" Taina punched him again in the side of the cheek. He whimpered after the hit, his right eye swelling up.

"W-wait—"

Taina gave a knee to his stomach, knocking the air out of him. Boleslav choked and tried to get the air back into his lungs, Taina looked in disgust and cracked her fingers for another blow. "H-hold on," Boleslav muttered. "I'll talk!"

Eliza quickly sat aside her qualms and picked up the laptop, ready to type in the notes. Taina held her fist to her side, waiting for his words to spill. "I don't have all day desgraçado."

"When you grew up in the slums, did your mother whore herself out, or was she too old and worn for anyone to fuck?" He smiled, his mouth fresh and red. Taina quickly hit him in the face repeatedly, his cries becoming more and more apologetic and regrettable as she continued. She grabbed the coffee pot and lifted it over her head. She smashed it over his head hard, the glass shattering all over the floor. She picked up the largest piece and held it against his eye.

"Right or left?"

Boleslav, dazed but aware, began to feel fear quiver through his body. "W-what?"

"Right or left!" She reiterated.

"A-are you gonna cut the the one I say?!" He said, shaking in his seat.

"No," she replied, inching the glass closer, "which one I'm gonna take first!"

"Oh god, someone help! Help!" Boleslav started to scream

Eliza had to step in. She quickly turned on the microphone. "Cav, that's enough!"

Taina looked to the mirror and dropped the glass in her hand. Her grip still laid on his shirt, pulling it closer to her face. "You better talk, or I'll get my way with you."

She left the room without saying another word. When she entered the room the other two operators were in, she didn't say anything, leaning on the wall. "Are we done?"

"For now," Isaac said, not looking back. Eliza shot him a look. "We'll call if we need you again."

Taina smirked, getting off the wall. "Aren't you the new guy, Isaac?"

Isaac turned around. "I am."

Taina opened the door to the outside. "You're not scared?"

"I've seen worse."

Taina raised a brow, then closed the door. Eliza glared at the man. "I didn't think you were in charge."

"I'm not, because we both are co-interrogators," Isaac replied, "but it's apparent you aren't use to more advanced techniques."

"You mean torture," Eliza bluntly announced. "We can't just torture anybody, there's rules to all of this, there's—"

"Have you been tortured, or been the torturer? Have you ever seen the process of it?" Isaac asked. Eliza was a bit taken back at such a question.

Eliza cleared her throat. "No I haven't, to all of it."

Isaac didn't reply. He simply sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Then you don't realize that people like him," he pointed at the whimpering mess that cried in his chair, "only understand that pain is the only way to get what you want. They don't understand law or regulation, why else are they criminals? If we don't play by their rules, we'll never truly be able to stop them."

"That's a bold assumption," Eliza said. "But not everyone tells the truth when they get drowned or electrocuted. They'll do or say whatever they need to in order to stop it."

Isaac didn't say anything, perusing the man who had started to sob silently in his chair. He had been so tough and brash earlier, but when she started to repeatedly hit him, Boleslav's tough persona quickly melted away. Isaac exhaled slowly. "We at least know he's afraid of being mutilated, that can be useful."

Eliza frowned, turning to the whimpering man behind the glass. She closed her laptop, and placed her arms down on the table.

"Get Doc in here and clean him up." He began to walk out of the door. Eliza brought her phone out began dialing Gustave. "We'll finish this up tomorrow."

* * *

Laying inside his bed wasn't exactly a very social thing to do, Isaac concluded. He sat up quickly as he looked around his room. It still was relatively empty, considering that already a week within Rainbow he only slept in his room twice. The emptiness reminded him of his time in the Army, messing around in his barracks with his brothers at arms, making memories. It also lead to thoughts of his family. Growing up, they'd always been close to each other, and he felt an upset emotion in his core that was completely foreign to him. He couldn't believe it, but it finally happened.

Isaac finally felt homesick.

He sighed, and grabbed his phone. The numbers beeped with every press and he held it to his ear as the phone rang. It didn't answer and went straight to voicemail. Isaac's mother's voice came into the speaker, her usual voicemail greeting ready.

"Hello, this is Maria, call me later please!"

It beeped after.

"Hello ma," he started. "I don't know what time it is exactly over there but it's night here. I'm doing fine, just wanted to say I'm still good and everything, love you." He hung up. It had been a while since he talked to family.

A knock on the door interrupted him. Isaac sighed and stretched off the bed, and made his way slowly to the door. He twisted the knob, and was greeted by a short woman, her features illuminated the hallway light. It was Siu.

"Hello Isaac, how're you?"

"I'm doing alright." He stared at her a little awkwardly.

"Good, I just wanted to let you know that a few of us are going out to a restaurant for the operation's success," Siu explained. "We wanted to know if you'd like to come along."

Isaac looked around. "Who's going?"

"Timur and Alexsandr are coming, so are Yumiko, Eliza, and Elias," She said. "And it's on us, so don't bring anything."

Isaac gave a curt smile. "I'll come along, I've been cooped up here too long already."

Siu smiled. "Dress up nice then, and we'll meet you in the common room."

VVV

Isaac dressed in more presentable clothes than before, meeting up with Siu who waited patiently outside. Together they walked down the empty hall and towards the common room.

"How's your side? I heard you got hit during the mission," Siu asked.

"It's nothing really," Isaac replied, "I've seen worse days."

"Oh, you must be a magnet to bullets then huh?" The Chinese woman giggled. Isaac laughed along.

"Yeah, ever since my Army days I've had a certain affinity to getting shot." He rubbed his chin, holding the door open to the common room. Siu thanked him, and he closed the door.

"What a gentleman," he heard Elias' voice call from across the room. All the others waited there patiently, dressed in good dining attire. "Now you just need to wine and dine her."

"Elias, don't tease the man." Siu's frowned. "I don't want any fighting."

"I'm just joking is all." Elias snickered. "He was fantastic during the mission, of course he took a sick day during the actual fighting."

"Elias," Eliza warned. "We've both had a long day."

"Before we get going," Jordan added, his palm open, "I'm Jordan."

Elias took the scarred man's hand into his own. The feeling was interesting, to say the least. Yumiko quickly stepped in as soon as they released hands. "Hello there, I'm Yumiko!"

"Isaac. Pleased to meet you."

Alexsandr was next, the matured Russian man lending out a weathered hand. "Hello Isaac, I've heard you've done well with your first mission."

"I hope I did," Isaac shook back. "I'm pleased to work with such talented operators."

"Now that's what I want to hear," Alexsandr chuckled. "It's good to have such appreciative teammates."

"I think we're going to be late," Eliz chimed in, tapping her watch. "We better get going."

Isaac smiled. "Lead the way."

* * *

The restaurant was orderly, clean. It's fancy setting seemed a little too luxurious for a local area, and it's food less expensive than what Isaac would've thought. Either way it was nice, to be treated to dinner even if the mission wasn't one of much importance, in a strategic sense.

They had shared drinks and conversations through the night. The group had shared laughs and stories as the night continued, more cups full of drinks emptying and plates stacking.

"I couldn't remember the last time I sat behind a desk and actually did paperwork," Jordan chuckled as he downed another glass of whiskey. "I've done enough writing in University."

"Maybe you should do the filework for this operation then Jordan." Yumiko teased. "Relive your old school days."

Jordan snickered. "I'd rather fight off an alien invasion."

"Don't jinx your words Trace," Eliza smirked. "You never know what's coming."

"That being said," Jordan turned to Isaac. "You ever experienced any type of work like that Isaac?"

"What type of work?" Isaac rose an eyebrow.

"Y'know, aliens and what not." Jordan explained. "Did you ever come into contact with the great beyond?"

"Jordan, I don't think Isaac is comfortable talking about his former position." Siu defended.

"No, it's alright Siu. I didn't really take part in any of that nonsense, if they ever had any of it. I did black ops work, military assistance and intelligence gathering." Isaac sipped some of his drink. "We have a saying in the group, There's always a look over your shoulder."

"I imagine you must've done shady things in that group," Alexsandr coolly commented, "it is the CIA after all. When I was in the Red Army, I was always lead by the KGB. I'd expect that you did a lot of their dirty work."

Eliza whipped her hand out and slapped the big Russian's chest, realizing that he was met with disapproving stares. "What?"

"There's a lot I can't say," Isaac simply replied, "I can say all I want about my Army days, but I'm taking my Agency's secrets to the grave."

"I don't know how you can live with such secrets," Timur said. "How do you relieve the stress of it."

Isaac took another drink of his cup. "I think about the present and future, not the past."

Siu stepped in. "If there's anything you don't want to say just don't say it, it's alright."

"No, no, it's all good." Isaac smiled. "Just not use to being with people that understand our type of job, y'know?"

"Our different experiences together make our team one of a kind," Yumiko quickly added.

Timur agreed. "An artist doesn't make a masterpiece with one color."

Isaac took his drink and finished it all together. They were right, the reason why rainbow had such a high success rate was its diversity in the operators and their experience. The quiet elegant music played in the background as they finished up their drinks and food, more and more cups and glasses. Finally, shots for all of the table at the very end, a good way to end the night. Despite being a little more tipsy than what's allowed.

"To another successful mission," Alexsandr raised his shot. "And to all those poor fools that are in body bags. _Salud_!"

" _Salud_." The team downed the shots and few winced. The check finally came around and the team left the table, satisfied with the night for now.

* * *

The crew stumbled out of the car, a few members of the night too tipsy to know where to go. Eliza and Jordan helped out Yumiko to her room, while the Russians simply laughed and walked off to their dorms. There was just Siu and Isaac left, the latter guiding Siu to her dorm.

"Thanks for helping," She slurred. "I'm not the strongest drinker."

"I can tell." Isaac chuckled, leading her up the stairs. She yawned, her eyes becoming baggy.

"I get really sleepy when I drink," she murmured. "I'll probably just sleep on the floor if you didn't help me."

"You're very small anyways, I can't imagine if we just drank and didn't eat." Isaac chuckled. "Remind me to bring you pillow and a blanket."

"Don't be an ass!" She slapped his chest. "Oops, did I hurt you?"

"No, it's fine. Let's get you to your room." He finally made it to her dorm and released her. Siu stood there for a moment, and whipped around.

"Isaac, thank you," she said. "For helping me up."

Isaac gave a kind smile. "It was my pleasure Siu."

Siu smiled once more, her catty eyes looking him up and down, before she flashed her teeth. "I'll see you later."

She closed the door to her room and Isaac sighed through his nose. He pulled away from the door and leaned against the wall, the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach slowly quelling. He hoped to God that this was the alcohol in his belly. It finally subsided, and he went to his room.

* * *

 **A/N: What I consider "intermission" chapter, aka chapters between missions. It'll just focus on the activities and interactions and possible mission tidbits. So far, Boleslav gets interrogated, and a few of the team goes out for food and drinks!**

 **Please excuse any spelling/grammar mistakes!**

 **No new OC's introduced. If you review I'll be more inclined to show your OC's. To those who don't review, I just might kill your OC, because why should I let your character be in my story if you don't bother to check it?**

 **In other news, next few updates will be oneshots I've been doing in between writing Under the Rainbow. So don't expect the next update to be a new chapter.**

 **Leave a review, lemme know what you think!**

 **-Mister Bombastic**


	10. Intermission 2

Isaac punched the boxing bag with minimal effort. It wasn't so terribly early or late in the morning for him to not put effort, but the wound in his side still ached.

There were quite a few others inside the rather luxurious gym on the base. He recognized Meghan and Craig, he thinks he sees Seamus on the weight bench. There a few others, of course, training their bodies to be prepared for a mission at a moments notice.

It wasn't long until Ela had shown up to the gym, and casually strides to the dumbbells. She picked up a forty pounder and began to curl her arms. Her icy blue eyes quickly met with Isaac's dark eyes, and immediately showed discontempt.

Isaac frowned and looked away, hoping she'd lose focus on him. It was like that thankfully, and Isaac punched away at the bag.

An hour had passed, most of the gym members doing less intense exercises to finish off the day. Isaac had ditched the punching bag and done a variety of calisthenics. Push ups, pull ups, sit ups, a lot of ups, you name it. He knew that true strength came from keeping your body healthy and fit, not showing off how many weight you can bench.

It wasn't long until he looked up to see the figure of Ela shadow over him.

Isaac raised his arm with an opened hand. "Elżbieta, mind helping me up?"

She didn't offer her hand. "I saw you punching the bag, you have good form. You use to fight?"

"Yes," Isaac stood up, giving a cocky smile. "I was the Army Boxing Program. Middleweight runner up, Thirty-two and three."

"Then fight me," Ela shoved a pair of gloves into his chest. "I want to see what makes you so great."

Isaac chuckled. "I'm easily got fifty pounds on you. I wouldn't take the chances."

"Size doesn't matter." Ela said tactfully. "I want to fight you."

"Why?"

"Because I don't like you." Ela bluntly announced. "You get into everyone's business, you're a kiss ass, and I just don't like your face."

"Fine," Isaac walked past her, slipping on the boxing gloves. "First one down loses. We're playing clean, nothing below the built."

"Like you have anything worthwhile under there." Ela scoffed, shoving her shoulder against his as she made her way to the boxing mat. Isaac glared contemptly at the Polish woman, the commotion causing a few others to stare. Isaac felt the need to show a child how to properly act in a mature setting, this would be a good way to show it.

Few minutes passed, before the two met in the middle of the boxing mat with gloves and face guards on. Isaac gave a smirk to the smaller Polish woman, who gave a scowl in return. Craig has offered to become referee for this, simply out of boredom. To everyone else, this was just a sparring match.

To Ela, this was a way to show off her skills. She didn't reciprocate the feelings of a competition to Isaac. Rather she wanted to make him feel out of control, to live in her world.

Once they touched gloves, it was on. Craig stood by and watched closely as the two put their hands up in stance. Ela took the first swing, something that Isaac dodged right away.

She swung again. He dodged it. He ducked under another hook easily, and jabbed her side. She winced and recoiled back, her hands now in a protective hold. She skirted across the mat, ready to unleash another blow. Ela swinged left, Isaac easily blocked and hit her square in the face. She tumbled back and fell to her knee, the punch was much harder than she expected.

"You can't win girl," Isaac warned. "Just give up."

She growled and raised up, her fist poised for another swing. Isaac smirked and took his stance, trailing around her. Ela surprised him with a lightning-fast uppercut, and then a swing to his side. Once he let his hands slightly drop she began to let a volley of hits contact his face.

Isaac retreated back as the blows started to overcome him. He stepped back into the ropes, covering his face from the gloves. He began to slump slightly as Ela continued to pound away.

"Call me a girl huh you bastard?" Ela continued, slamming into his abdomen. "Let's see who's the real girl!"

She bounced off him once Isaac groaned and Craig separated from the two. She began to walk off victoriously, until she heard the stirring from Isaac. He slowly climbed up and put up his stance, fist raised up. She furrowed her brow, and raised her gloves as well.

She quickly lunged her fist and he easily blocked it. He delivered a swift and hard punch to her cheek that nearly through her on the floor. She tried to get up, wobbly legs almost causing her to fall. Craig tried to help her up, but she quickly swatted his hand away. Isaac walked up to her, offering his hand to help her up.

Ela gave another angry scowl and flipped away his hand, walking off the mat angrily. Isaac simply looked on as she strided away from the gym.

"Boy, that was quick," He heard Craig say. "You okay new guy?"

"I'm fine." Isaac simply replied, making his way to the showers. His cellphone rang, Eliza's ID on the screen. he picked it up. "Isaac here."

"Make your way to the interrogation room, we've got Boleslav out again."

"I'll be there in ten." Isaac said. He hung up and turned on the showers, washing his face of the blood and cuts.

* * *

Jon considered trying to get the newer recruits of Rainbow to socialize more. Considering the recruits never lasted long—especially those fresh off the training grounds— he made it his mission to at least give them some comfort in trying to be part of the rest of the team.

He never worried about the ones who were seasoned operators from other prominent Special Forces, though, they always managed.

Jon thought it would be better if the Canadian, who was also a John, be more sociable. So far during his time here, he simply stayed in his room reading and doing who knows what else. Jon turned the corner of the hallway, walking towards the Canadian's room until he was greeted by another one of the new JTF2 members, Ethan.

"Ah, you're Ethan right?" Jon smiled, holding out his hand. Jon had noticed the burn scar on his arm, warped and prominent. Maybe he chose the wrong arm to shake hands with.

The Korean-Canadian took his grip and shook. Much to his relief, Ethan didn't seem bothered. "Yep, name's Ethan Yi. Just been hanging around the base."

"Yeah, shame they don't bring any more new operators in missions. I'm tired of sitting around the at base." Jon sighed. "I'm grateful that I'm part of the team and all but I thought I'd be in missions more often."

"I thought that it wavolunteer-based," Ethan added. "That's what Baker did the mission we just finished."

"Usually he doesn't ask for volunteers, he just picks names. Or Eliza picks the names. I don't know actually." Jon rubbed his neck. "But I have a good feeling our turn is coming about."

"Hopefully, I want to see what this team can do!"

The two were interrupted when Ela had shoved shoulders with them, giving them an annoyed glare, muttering to herself. " _Wynoś się z piekła z korytarza_ …"

As soon as she made the corner Ethan made a face. "Yeesh, who was that?"

"That's Ela," Jon informed the man. "She's not the most… bubbly person you'll meet. In fact, I don't think she likes anyone."

"Yeah but, where the hell did she come from? We would've heard her from down the hall, and it's a dead-end." Ethan began to wonder, looking around one of the hallways few doors. "Her rooms not here is it?"

"No, her room is upstairs. She would've been in one of these rooms…"

"Well, only John, Sébastien, Tina, and I live on this side of the dorms."

Jon frowned. "She doesn't really converse with Tina, and she butts heads with Sébastien a few times of the week…"

"I think it's best we don't dig any further into this," Ethan warned. "Let's just do something else."

"I heard that there's some commotion going on in the gym, we can check it out."

The door suddenly whipped open, revealing a lightly dressed John, only wearing sweats and a wife beater. "Are you guys heading to the gym?"

"Maybe, it's probably nothing important." Jon said. John said nothing as he closed the door. Jon and Ethan looked at each other in amusement. Like they said before, it was best to leave it alone.

* * *

When the door clicked open, Eliza and Jack were already talking over a cup of coffee in their hands. Isaac didn't say a word as he walked up to the window, A very drowsy Boleslav tried to stay focused, his face covered in oily red burns from the coffee attack yesterday.

"You're late," Eliza announced.

"You're early," Isaac replied, turning around to the Israeli woman. She rolled her eyes. When she looked at Isaac's face covered in cuts and bruises, she raised a brow. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Boxing match," Isaac replied coolly. "I won, by the way."

Eliza rolled her eyes again. The mirror showed Boleslav staring at an intern in fear as he offered a cup of coffee, vehemently refusing it. "Is he afraid to get coffee now?"

"Looks like it," Jack said, "when I offered him a cup Boleslav refused. He's afraid he might be injured again."

"If that's the case then maybe we should bring in Taina again, she worked well last time," Isaac suggested.

"I don't know if we should," Jack said. "When I was questioning him earlier he tensed up whenever we mentioned any words involving mutilation. His eyes would dart around, he would wiggle his hands a bit, the whole nine yards. He might refuse to talk at all."

"And negotiation?"

"Not good," Jack gestured at Boleslav, "dude wants everything short of the moon."

"So you're saying mutilation is what gets him afraid and able to talk?" Isaac looked at the man in the mirror.

"Exactly." Jack set his mug down. "From what I learned from his mannerisms is that he's self-conscious about his appearance."

"I don't know how he does it," Eliza commented, "but Jack is extremely good at reading people."

Jack nodded in agreement. "I've learned how to read people by the way they present themselves."

"So Boleslav buckles under the threats of messing up his ugly little head." Eliza turned back to the two other operators. "Can we actually do any damage to him without breaking any laws?"

"Technically yes," Isaac said, "he's a detainee. Same excuse they use in Guantanamo and terrorists in captivity. The Geneva Convention does not apply to detainees."

"Don't think well be in a good reputation if we torture our suspects." Jack put his two cents in. "I wouldn't advise it."

"Of course we're not gonna mutilate the man," Eliza sighed. "We do things differently than the CIA Isaac."

Isaac acted like he didn't hear the last part.

"The threat is enough for him to spill," Isaac finally decided. "We'll get Taina back here again, have her stand menacingly, he buckles under the knife, we get our intel."

Jack chuckled. "I wish it was that easy."

"Maybe it is." Isaac shrugged.

"Whatever the case, we don't have much time." Ash typed on her laptop, a small folder of mugshots and connections. "Word is that the White Masks have another big attack planned for somewhere in the US. We know Boleslav was a major contributor to firearms for the White Masks, but we need to know the proxies he sold them too, and maybe we can calculate the area."

"Let's finish this up, we're wasting time. Ring up Taina and we'll get on moving."

* * *

Boleslav stared consciously at the one-way mirror that separated them from himself. Their muffled voices provided the only sound in the room, besides his own breathing. He frowned to think what they were planning to do with him. Since the incident yesterday with the Latina, he knew that actual, physical harm can come to him. How can Boleslav ever return to his home or see his kids if he came back as a scarred, deformed man?

Boleslav jumped when the door opened, the tall bald man walking through the door with a folder in his hand. Then, his heart dropped.

The same woman from yesterday had come back into his dorm and Boleslav immediately began to squirm in his seat. A desperate bid to escape her clutches.

Boleslav cowered behind his cuffed hands as she trailed behind him, her eyes boring into the back of his head.

"Get this woman away from me," Boleslav implored. "She'll kill me!"

"She's my protection, she'll stay in this room guarding you until we get what we need from you."

Boleslav groaned as she shifted, merely crossing her arms as she frowned at the man. "Pathetic…"

Boleslav looked at Jack again, his hands pointing to Taina. "P-please get her away from me, I'm begging you. She'll cut me from top to bottom, leave me a mess of stitches!"

Jack looked Taina again. He simply shrugged his shoulders and opened his folder. "She seems like a nice woman, I'm sure she's no threat."

Boleslav shakily looked away from the frightening woman and stared intently at Jack. Jack returned the favor with a patient but expecting look. "So, do you have anything to tell us about the weapons you sold to the White Masks or to any known proxies?"

"I-I haven't done such a thing." Boleslav stammered. "Surely you've got me confused with another person."

"Tell the truth desgraçado," Taina growled. "We don't have time for your games."

Taina feinted an attack and Boleslav cowered. She retracted back and leaned against the corner of the wall once more. Jack didn't flinch.

Boleslav lowered his hands. "The thing is these people have eyes and ears everywhere. I don't know who's listening…"

A few more minutes passed, mostly of Boleslav babbling away about the threat of spies for the White Masks. Jack just nodded patiently, it wasn't the first time for him to see suspects drone about usually far-fetched situations or the like. Taina started to get impatient, rolling her eyes as her disposition changed from patient to angry. Just as Jack hoped.

"I'm sick of listening to you talk about stupid nonsense," Taina growled. She grabbed the man's head and slammed it down to the table. "Spill it!"

"Please don't hurt me!"

"Get off of him now." Isaac's voice called from the PA in the room. Taina scolded the mirror and let go of his neck with a hard jerk, and stood back into the corner. " _Isso é uma perda de tempo_ …"

Boleslav quickly roused to his seat. He frantically pointed at the woman behind him. "I'll tell you everything, just get her away from me!"

"Very well," Jack looked at Taina, his stare said all he needed without uttering a word. She frowned angrily and left the room, shutting the door harshly behind her.

When she made it to the other side of the room where Eliza and Isaac stayed, she didn't say a word and rushed off. "Taina, wait…" Eliza futilely called out.

"She isn't fit for the job if she acts like a child," Isaac commented. "If I was in charge—"

"Well you're not in charge are you?" Eliza interrupted. "Now shut up and listen."

Boleslav looked around the room as if searching for a possible eavesdropper in the small confined room. He leaned in close to the table, his voice harsh and low in Jack's hearing.

"I did not sell to proxies except for one group." Boleslav uttered. "I sold through a middleman to a group based in California."

"What was the name of this group?" Jack calmly asked. Behind the glass, Eliza rang up Six while Isaac began typing the key points into his keyboard.

"It's a small group; all young people, maybe around twenty or thirty. The man who talked to me sounded more matured, I'm confident that he's the leader of the group."

"What was the name of the group," Jack reiterated. "I want names first."

"The man didn't have a name, he just went by Commander Che, like the communist from South America. They wanted heavy weapons; Machine guns and sniper rifles. They also ordered dozens of grenades and explosives, like they were building a small army."

"The name of the group!" Jack repeated, "What's the name of the group?"

"They call themselves the White Masks of the People's Liberation Army. WMPLA. That's what they called themselves, I've never heard of the group before, and that's all I know. I swear."

"You're lying," Jack stated. "You know more."

Boleslav gesticulated, but words failed to come except for the grunt or squeak of his tongue cut off from what to say. "Please, if they're the same White Masks like the news they'll come after my family for snitching."

"Your family is safe with the German Police, I'm sure they'll remain safe." Jack flipped his folder. "Now, how many weapons did you sell to the group?"

"We sold about a hundred AUG rifles, fifty or so of Soviet carbines, SKS's and the like. We sold them hand grenades and some homemade explosives." Boleslav rubbed his neck. "I think that's about it, they had quite some money to spend."

"You said that they were in California, can you point where in California they're located in?"

"A university, a UC specifically somewhere up north. Which one I couldn't tell you. We gave them through a cartel down in Mexico who moved them up to California."

"Then how'd did you get the information?"

"Because they wanted a middleman to make the paper trail lead elsewhere. We shipped the guns to Mexico, they paid the Mexicans to move the shipment so it wouldn't look like it was my business that did. They were kind enough to tell us where the weapons headed, the Cartel."

"Can you say who the Cartel is?"

"I am afraid not, only the White Masks knew."

Jack sighed. "That's not a sound business practice."

Boleslav chuckled a little nervously. "It's what they wanted."

"You're afraid of retaliation?" Jack clicked a pen.

"The White Masks have many members and the means of punishment," Boleslav quivered. "Even if they're just posers, they could have actual connections with the White Masks."

"Then why didn't you sell the actual White Masks like before?" Jack asked. "When they staged the attack in Berlin last year."

"I didn't sell them weapons. Some other group did." Boleslav flicked off. "I assume that they bought it from people who bought weapons from me years ago."

"Y'know for every answer I get only more and more confused," Jack sighed, closing up the folder. "But we have all the information we need now."

Boleslav smiled nervously. "So does that mean I leave?"

"No, it doesn't." Jack opened up the door and closed the door behind him. Boleslav eyes the door unbelievably and frowned. Eliza was already deep into a conversation with Six as Isaac typed a message sent to the entire team to meet in the Planning Room.

* * *

The whispered talks and the idle dialogue of the room didn't ease once Six's face appeared on the large screen. Only until she started to hush down the crowd was when there were silence and her ability to control the room of weary operators.

"Everyone," she began, "I know how grave this matter is. Another attack on American soil could be devastating to both the people and the nation'swell-being. Bartlett still has yet to recover from their attack two years ago, and I promised that such a threat would never happen again."

The crowd became more somber. "I intend to keep that promise. We will do our job as Counter-Terrorist Unit and eliminate the threat before it can appear."

"For now, I'll leave Miss Cohen in charge of this operation, she'll explain everything. You'll be taking orders for the mission from her. Thatcher will be staying behind to run the base while the rest of the team is away. Six out."

The screen blacked out, leaving a dark reflection of the operators. Eliza took the stage and announced the mission's details.

"Alright people, we have a new threat in our hands."

The screen suddenly went from black to an image of Boleslav and Jack in the interrogation room, both seemingly conversing with each other. "Thanks to what we got from Boleslav, we learned where and what was the White Masks latest purchase of arms and explosives."

Ash flicked the screen to a map of California. "From what we gathered we know that Boleslav sold an army's worth of guns to a radical left-wing group of the White Masks. It's close to what we know of their true intentions thanks to Isaac's knowledge. Thankfully, we also know of their organization."

The next image on the screen was a screenshot of a website covered in bold red, black and yellow characters and logos, especially those of the anarchist and communist symbols. The website seemed sleek, modern, and attractive to the more easily unfocused mind. "This the website of the supposed White Mask branch we're dealing with. The People's Liberation Army. A political group based on UC Berkeley. From what the website tells us, they're Anarcho-Communist anti-government radicals lead by a Commander Che, an obvious alias. They seem to be planning something big one month from now. We need to prevent it from even happening."

"Do you think they're supported by other anarchist or even the White Masks?" Jon asked.

"We're hoping not, but we still need more time to know these people. Once we break the website and find out about their members, we'll move in."

The crowd remained silent.

"Until then Six alerted the Department of Homeland Security. We'll be on the bench until they call us on." Eliza crossed her arms. "I've got a list of who's going from Six, when I call you get your things ready."

Eliza pulled out a list on her phone. "Siu Mei Lin, Meghan Castellano, Masaru Enatsu, John Nilsson, Monika Weiss, Ryad Ramirez, Jon Taylor, Ethan Yi, Taina Pereira, Zofia Bosak, Jack Estrada, Isaac Meza, Chul Kyung Hwa, and Emmanuelle Pichon. Get your bags ready for immediate departure."

The woman placed her folder down. "Keep in mind, we'll be working in high-civilian location. Every shot matters."

* * *

 **A/N: Been a little lazy this weekend so I didn't finish it as soon as I would've. I added that little boxing scene at the beginning late to the week so I was mostly finishing that lol. Hope none of you mind.**

 **It'll be a little longer uploading the next chapter because I'm working a school project that will be of more importance.**

 **No new OC's introduced. Leave a review.**

 **-Mister Bombastic**


	11. Intermission 3

The base was in a small hurry as the days passed by and they received no news from Homeland Security. It has been almost five days since the news of the White Mask group was discovered and yet they were stuck in the base hardly doing anything. Six being painfully aware of the situation tried remedying the operators.

"If we don't get to move in soon on the White Masks, we're going to track down the Cartel in Mexico and try to get a lead from there." Six casually explained. "The Cartel should be easy to identify based off of outside knowledge and more of Boleslav's help."

"What about when we get clearance to act in California?" Eliza asked. Mike didn't say a word In the room, looking at a popped up map of California. The room they were in was darkly tinted, full of screens and whiteboards showing pictures taken of the campus.

"We'll move in in California first then, Mexico will be next. Either way, we'll be active in both in the coming weeks. Six out."

The screen shined to black, Mike finally shifted and spoke. "Sounds a lot like spring break."

"Haha, very funny," Ash said. "We need to think this through. How do you suppose we infiltrate the university?"

"We can't just evacuate it?" Mike suggested. "It'll be a lot easier than dressing up as kids."

"If we evacuate it, the White Masks have a heads up and can escape or attack during the ensuing chaos of having 42,000 people leave," Eliza pointed out.

Mike grunted. "What's the rules of engagement like for these kids? I think they're pretty young to take up arms against whoever they're angry out."

Eliza leaned on the wall, arms crossed as she contemplated the morality of the mission. "They chose to take the fight and create a revolution, so they'll see what a revolution will bring."

"The world's more fucked as it goes," Mike shrugged. "What're a few fewer idealists gonna do?"

"That's a dark way to think of it," Eliza raised her brow. "These kids are half of our age."

"Like you said; they wanted a fight, we'll give them a fight. I'll let you set up the plans." Mike walked away from the away from the room. Eliza didn't stop him as the door behind him shut. She sighed and pulled out a chair to sit down on.

These were basically kids fresh out of high school, if not barely a year or two into their lives out of their hometowns. Why they would take up arms to fight for a generally frowned upon form of government is anything but nonsensical. Just what did they learn in these universities?

Eliza pushed the thought out of her head. She can worry about that later, right now she has to focus on the task at hand.

The most obvious thing to do was to go in guns blazing. That'll look terribly bad for coverage and kills Rainbow's reputation. They can evacuate the school, but that'll give the baddies a chance to attack or escape like she concluded. They could stalk around campus for a few days, posing as college students or staff and find out more from the kids.

It was the cleanest, effective, and clear way to go about. These kids aren't dumb though, they could easily see pass their personas and find out what they are. After all, they deal with Narcs and undercover cops all the time.

Eliza turned around when the door knocked, Mike standing out with Aleksandr. He waved hello, and pulled out a chair, resting his feet on the table. "Cohen, old friend, what's the plan?"

"Ah, your highness," Eliza mockingly replied. "Just preparing for your arrival. Mind the mess."

Aleksandr let out a healthy chuckle. "Ah, why thank you."

Eliza smirked. "The plan is basically just to infiltrate the students, find out what they can, and bring back any info they could. Fair and simple."

"Hm, you think our operation team will blend in easily?"

"As students, it's a stretch. I'm hopeful that we can pass by as Staff or technicians working on the campus security system."

"Do you know much about this Berkeley college?" The Russian asked, rubbing a hefty chin. "I've only heard tidbits on local news."

"I don't," Eliza admitted. "There are a few Americans who do, native Californians."

"Right," Mike nodded, "I know Meghan and Miles are from California, Isaac said he's from there too."

"Let us ask them from an insider's perspective, they're bound to know something."

"Not a bad idea. Mike, call them in and tell them to meet in the planning room."

Mike quickly dialed his phone and left the room to converse. Aleksandr nodded gently to the action of the plan. "Good, maybe we can solve this easily for once."

Eliza smiled. "I wouldn't count on it."

* * *

The three operators entered the room with little fear or suspicion. They knew why they were called into the room, they just needed to know what a Californian knows about Berkeley.

"Ah, you're all here," Aleksandr welcomed. "Take a seat."

"Like you need to tell us," Miles replied, pulling up his chair. Meghan and Isaac took their chairs in as well, ready for the conversation.

"Now that you're all present we'd like to ask you some questions regarding the mission locale," Eliza said, bringing up a map of California. "Most importantly, about Berkeley."

"What isn't there to know about the Bay Area?" Meghan joked. "They're all tools."

"You've got that right," Miles smiled.

"Yeah, we can rip on Bay Area all day," Isaac chuckled.

"Tell us about Berkeley specifically," Ash asked. "What's life like there?"

The three Californians pondered for a few moments as the thoughts of the infamous college took hold. Isaac was the first to speak, a quick realization that needed no call out.

"Berkeley is a very liberal and progressive place," Isaac said. "Finding a 'radical' college group there is gonna be easy, but finding out which one there will be tough."

"A lot of the students there are communist or hard left," Meghan added. "I don't think many of them will betray their movement's main force unless it affects them. So, students, there could be hard to interact with."

The two turned to Miles, who spoke soon after. "If they find out that Rainbow managed to infiltrate a school group for the sole purpose of bringing them down, regardless of their threat, it'll be an uproar."

"That's true," Isaac nodded. "They throw riots and protests for the littlest things."

Miles added his thoughts. "Unless you want to get info, you have to work with the counterculture group of Berkeley, and that group is—"

"—the more conservative side of the campus." Mike deducted.

"They're the key to uncovering on who's who on the arms deal," Isaac said. "Considering they're a tightly packed minority group they'll be easier to be a mole on the campus."

Eliza nodded. "That's good to know, thank you for coming. You can leave back to whatever you're doing."

The three operators nodded and began leaving the room, closing the door shut behind them. Aleksandr rubbed his chin with his palm, feeling it's growing stubbiness. "That was productive."

"Truly," Mike said. "What's our plan for Mexico if Homeland Security doesn't give us clearance."

"Similar to our recent mission in Germany: Find the location, scout it, and retrieve an HVP and leave," Eliza began to explain. "We're hoping to get some assistance from the Mexican Government."

"I thought the Mexican government was corrupt as hell," Mike pointed out. "They sold out some of the original operators when Rainbow was first taking form."

"They're the best we got. I doubt the people would want to help gringos out of their own personal safety."

Aleksandr stood up. "Da, it is settled. We take two teams and try to hit them both at the same time, kill two birds with one stone."

"We don't have clearance for Mexico or California yet. I'm just saying that if we get Mexico first we're going to Mexico first." Eliza clarified.

"Then we get two teams when they both clear, one south and one north. I'll let my boys know to pack for the warm climate," Aleksandr stretched out his shoulders. "Do svidaniya."

As soon as the door closed Mike turned to the Israeli woman. "Do you think we're heading north or south of the border?" He got up from the wall, making his way to the door in front of him.

"Does it matter?"

"No, but the Russian had a good idea. Sending two teams for a big operation makes good sense, we can get more done in shorter time."

Eliza sighed. "I suppose, I'll take it up with Six."

"You better," Mike gave a sly smile. "You're her favorite."

He closed the door leaving only Eliza in the room. The silent atmosphere was enough for her to drive her to start working on the plan. She grabbed a few markers and began to uncap their tops. She drew lines and circles pointing to where they would attack, defend, or spy in Berkeley. This mission was important, and no detail would be left undiscovered.

* * *

 **A/N: Much smaller update. I'll be taking longer this upcoming weeks due to school and spring break, hence the length of this chapter. I promise to get right into the new operation next chapters.**

 **Nothing other than that. Leave a review and have a good day**

 **-Mister Bombastic**


	12. Operation Red Spring: Pregame

Once Six received the clearance for the op, she alerted the entire team to the planning room to discuss the detail of the mission. The entire crowd sat in silence as her face veered deep into their eyes. This mission could prevent another Bartlett-scale attack.

"We've just received clearance from Homeland Security. We're moving in immediately once we get our team ready. I'm expecting complete and quick discretion with the mission, and an utmost importance on civilian lives. These kids are one of America's brightest. If even a single life is lost it'll be a devastating blow to both Rainbow and the world." Her words spoke waves of nerves for this missions importance. "I'm leaving Mike and Alexsandr in charge of this operation and for the ground team in Berkeley. Eliza will lead a second team down in Mexico to extract an HVT to stop the weapons smuggling of the Cartel that assisted the White Masks. Six out."

"You heard her everyone. All those listed for the Berkeley mission get ready for take off." Mike began. "As for the team in Mexico, we'll also be . making sure your equipment is secured. The teams will try to coordinate with each other to find out where and who the targets are."

"Will we get assistance in Mexico?" Gilles raised this hand.

"Considering the amount of corruption the nation has with its cartels it's hard to say, we'll do our best to work with the Federal Police." Mike finished. "That's it, Berkeley is Team Alpha, Mexico is Team Bravo. We'll try to keep in contact during the duration of this mission. From now on, this operation is called Red Spring, everyone is dismissed."

* * *

Because of the larger number of people on the operation they couldn't take a private jet as they did the mission prior. They boarded a small civilian airliner, most of its occupants being the team themselves. Isaac sat quietly in his row of seats, right next to nobody. He enjoyed the silence of the flight, the eventual announcements and dings of airplane updates filled up the space as the hours passed. A flight to Sacramento from Birmingham was long, so there was little activity.

Few people chatted. Most of the team had fallen asleep or simply looked out their windows in boredom. Mike was the first one to come next to Isaac, not bothering to sit next to him.

"Change of plans, Mark and Grace are joining Team Alpha." Mike explained.

Isaac curves a brow. A sudden team change was unusual by Special Forces standards. "Why's that?"

"We're getting assistance in Mexico, people more suited for the role. Six figures that the techies are more suited for California."

"That makes sense, kids make robots for fun there," Isaac deducted. "The baddies could make weapons out of them."

"Exactly, Mexico isn't very technologically advanced in the Cartel department." Mike joked. "Just letting the team know."

"Got it."

Mike left. Isaac declined into his chair and looked over the dossier for the mission. This Commander Che figure seemed charismatic, recruiting already a hundred members into his idea of the White Masks. What disappointed him was whether or not he was a White Mask, the clues seemed muddy at best. He scanned around the paper, looking at the sources before a name caught his eye. Isaac's wired fired, he could've sworn he heard that name before.

 _Who is Hillary Stark_? It came in a fleeting moment before realization hit him like a truck. Isaac remembered exactly who she was, and he felt his insides turn.

His thoughts were interrupted when a familiar voice rang out, Mei Lin's smaller frame in front of the seats. "Hello Isaac, mind if I sit here?"

"Not at all," Isaac smiled. "Take a seat."

Mei Lin walked over his legs and into the seat next to him. She made a contented sigh and made herself comfortable. "Thank you, I didn't really want to hear Masaru snoring all flight."

"Not surprised he's asleep, not much to do on a plane without his drone." Isaac shrugged.

"Yes but, he's a loud snorer." She chuckled. "I would sit with Tze Long, but I'm afraid he's more interested in talking to James."

She motioned to the two operators across the rows laughing and chatting away. "Tze Long has always been friendly with the SAS."

"Better to be friends than enemies on the team."

Mei Lin raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"Too many people here butt heads," Isaac explained. "Ela doesn't seem to like me, or anyone for that matter. You don't like Shuhrat—"

"—I have a good reason not to." Mei Lin quickly interjected. "He's a liability to civilians lives and the mission!"

"But he has his uses in the team," Isaac said. "The Russians, you see, realized that the mission requires sacrifice. From what I've seen, they're willing to finish the mission at whatever the cost."

"I don't think he's still a good asset still," Mei Lin replied. "He's more of a detriment than a useful tool."

The two remained quiet after that. Shuhrat was on the mission team for Mexico, any cause for discourse before a mission was bad. Isaac said nothing else, he didn't want to escalate the conversation any further. Instead he tried to change the focus on to something more temperate.

"Have you ever been to California?"

"No, I haven't. I heard it's very nice! Aren't you from there?"

"I am actually, born and raised." Isaac smiled. This was better than heading down a route of complicated relationships. "I can tell you more about California if you like."

"I would love to hear about it, I wasn't around yet when when Rainbow did their missions here," Mei Lin recalled. Isaac smiled, this was much more comfortable to talk about. The two began to chat amongst themselves, the noise around the plane beginning to drown. A few seats ahead of them, Mike peeked around his head and frowned. Isaac seemed to be getting too friendly with the females of the team.

"I don't like the look of this," Mike sighed. Besides him Mark slept, and Jon read a magazine. "You see it?"

"What," Jon looked up, "Isaac and Mei Lin?"

"No Isaac and Aleksandr. Of course those two you knob!" Mike hushed. "They're getting too friendly."

Jon rolled his eyes. "So what, it's good that Isaac was quick to make friends. Better than most of the people who joined in the last three years."

"There's difference between making friends and getting into a relationship Jon. That puts the team at risk," Mike explained. "I've been doing this shit longer than most you have been alive. I understand why some people simply shag in the team, they do it out of stress or boredom. But when you start adding love into the mix, then you got a shit cake."

"Maybe there's been relationships on the team but no ones come forward," Jon suggested, flipping a page. "Maybe they're sneakier than you thought they were."

"Will both of you shut up already," Mark called out, covered in a blanket and a blindfold. "I'm trying to bloody sleep."

"Pipe it, Mark," Mike tapped his forehead, chuckling quietly. "The adults are talking."

* * *

Team Alpha arrived in Sacramento after the flight finally landed only an hour after midnight. The flight dropped off Team Bravo in an airport in Texas, closer to the border with the assistance of DEA and Border Agents. the team grudgingly exited the plane, eyes baggy andy limbs aching. They didn't check through the regular process, rather taking special acceptance with Homeland Security.

They were met in the tarmac with a few trucks and several agents of the Homeland Security, awaiting their arrival. The senior agent, an older man with a short crop of gray hair and a face of hard wrinkles, waited patiently, his suit pressed and dark. Around him, two other younger agents, a younger fair woman, and a tall tanned man. Protégés it seemed like. Mike was the first to greet him, giving him a firm handshake.

"Team Rainbow, your reputation precedes you," the agent nodded. "I'm Agent-in-Command Will Foster, Six gave me the details of your plan. We'll escort you to our base of operations. Agents Reed and Cortez will lead you to our transport."

"Understood Foster, awaiting our orders." Mike stood straight. The rest of the team and the other two young agents began making their way towards parked SUVs just off the side of the tarmac. Once everyone was in, they drove from the airport and made their way to the Bay Area.

"Hello everyone, I'm Agent Shannon Reed and this is Agent Aaron Cortez," the woman began, explaining herself to a group of the team inside their SUV. "We'll be assisting you in the operation. If you have any questions, you can report to us or to our senior Agent Foster."

"Understood Agent Reed," John nodded. "Where are we heading?"

"We're heading to a house we converted to a base of operations just south of Albany," Cortez answered. "For the meantime we've assigned hotel rooms nearby for you to stay at."

"Hotels? I like the sound of that," Jack smiled. "Everything complimentary?"

"As long as it's in the name of Counter Terrorism, yes."

The group inside the car smiled and chuckled among themselves. Isaac remained a bit quiet, getting a call from his radio.

"Attention Team Alpha," Baker's voice began. "From this moment on, codenames only. Thatcher out."

The agents looked up to them giving a courteous, but a nervous smile, Isaac read. They don't know how to handle a group of highly trained military operatives who could've just done this on their own. Needless to say, they're just greenhorns. "Alright team, you heard the man. Codenames only, try to refrain from using real names."

Agent Reed tried to speak up. "Sorry sir, er, Agent?"

"Just call me X-ray."

"X-ray, the situation is delicate. Agent Foster wants to emphasize the importance of civilian life. Another attack like Bartlett, and all our asses are on the line."

Isaac shrugged. "Don't see why you're telling me, I'm not in command."

"I just assumed—"

"Let's not assume," Cortez whispered. "They're Rainbow after all."

"Oh, right," Reed looked back into the crowded SUV, seeing the faces of the ever diverse Team Rainbow. She knows that this was just a fraction of the team, but the faces of the men and women said enough. They knew what this mission is—how important— and they don't need some new meat to tell them. She shrunk back into her seat, not saying another word. They have their job, and they're just fine on doing it quietly.

* * *

The Mexican heat was bothersome to Alexsandr, the Russian people didn't live in such weather daily. Eliza seemed fine, he thinks. She grew up in the heat in her Israeli homeland. The rest of the team seemed to do the same thing, waiving fans in packed cars or dressing lightly for the weather.

After their assistance with the Border Patrol, the DEA helped them locate the general vicinity of the Cartel, simply known as the Los Esqueletos, in the state of Sinaloa. They were in the city of Mazatlán, a prime tourist spot. Perfect for any gringo to waltz in and get anything if he knew the right people.

Alexsandr enjoyed the nice scenery of the ocean from the hotel, sipping a decent attempt of vodka. Eliza sooner appeared behind him, knocking on the glass slide door. "We need you your highness."

Alexsandr sighed, resting his cup on the table. "C'mon Eliza, let an old Russian man enjoy his vodka."

"You can enjoy it when we finish the mission."

Alexsandr conceded and got up, following inside the room, filled with mission boards, laptop computers, and firearms. The team sat around Eliza's planning board, filled with pictures of possible members, plans, and tracings. Alexsandr took a seat next to Elena, who wiped a piece of her Black Mirror patiently.

"Alright team, we don't have the luxury of having plenty of government assistance this mission unlike our other team mates," She stated bluntly, "we have to act quick, and we have to act as soon as we can."

"So what's the plan then?" Tze Long asked. "How are we going to get assistance."

"We will be getting assistance, but not in the form of the government. Six manage to get into contact with a local militia that's managing to beat out the cartels in certain states. They've recently began starting operations here."

The team looked at each other apprehensively. This unheard of, taking the help of a local force that wasn't organized. Eliza noticed the tension, acting swiftly to defuse it.

"I understand it's not a safe source, but it's the best we have. Whatever assistance we got from the government should be arriving soon, however we have to act fast."

"Who is the contact and where are we meeting them?" Alexsandr raised his hand.

"The contact," Eliza pointed to a picture of a tanned man, with dark hair and a Royale beard. "Is Mateo Ruiz Gutierrez, a up and comer in the Guardians Defensores."

Elena chuckled. "She butchered that."

Eliza gave a disapproving scowl. "As I was saying, Gutierrez is a former Marine Force Recon operator who came to Mexico to join the anti-cartel militia movement. They've been making strides in the state of Michoacán, and have been branching off, latest attempts in fighting in Jalisco and Sinaloa."

"So this guy has some experience against these bastards?" James asked.

"Yes. And we also have some help from the Federal Police group GOPES coming in to assist us. That's all we have from them."

James crossed his arms. "And that might be?"

"It's a Carmen Villegas. She's a GOPES operator who was recently asked by Six to assist us in our endeavours."

Shuhrat seemed to straighten up when he heard the woman's name, something that Alexsandr had noticed. He raised his eyebrow curiously at the quiet man, usually nonplussed about new people and names. Alexsandr does recall Shuhrat participating with another operator in Latin America in the past, but he can't recall who it was with.

He slightly judged Shuhrat's shoulder as Eliza continued with her presentation, whispering his native tongue. " _Shuhrat, you know this woman_?"

" _We've met before, during a mission_."

That caused a small smile to come out the older Russian's lips. He suddenly stood up, stretching his arms.

" _Dah_ , it is settled. Shuhrat and I will meet the new people. Where are they waiting?"

"They'll be waiting here at this local bar just a few blocks away," The picture she pointed at showed a small bar, with fluorescent lights of dancing girls and deals flashing, "around 11 PM tonight. I don't want any trouble happening here Alright? We're just meeting them and bringing them back to your HQ."

"Relax, I doubt people there will be too sober to notice us." Alexsandr said with a smile. Eliza frowned, looking to the clock. It was almost 10 PM, almost time for them meet.

"Hurry then, and make sure that you come back intact."

The two began to make their way to the door, hiding their pistols in their pants. Alexsandr let out a hefty chortle. "When have we ever?"

* * *

 **A/N: and so operation Red Spring officially begins! Kinda short I know, at least compared to my other chapters and I think a little rushed but I didn't want to starve you guys an extra week. I also did some research and found out that Chinese naming conventions are Last Name then First Name, so I've been saying Ying's name wrong this entire time! Apologies to any Chinese reader.**

 **So far, I've introduced two new OCs into the story: Carmen "Arrow" Villegas by Ferrebee and Mateo "Loco" Ruiz Gutierrez by MaximumSalt. I'd like to remind to all of you just in case, people will die! If it happened to be an OC of yours, I'm sorry!**

 **And on a side note, I'm thinking of doing a Fortnite story full of fights, friends, drugs, sex, and rock and roll. Based off the ever-so-popular Battle Royal, of course. I'll have a vote up on my profile to decide or not whether it'll be an SYOC or not.**

 **Thanks for reading! Leave a review and tell me what you thought.**


	13. Operation Red Spring: Casualty

**Warning, graphic!**

* * *

The cab ride was pleasant enough if one covered the aroma of recently cleaned vomit with their collar. Shuhrat and Alexsandr sat patiently inside the vehicle as they started to discuss their meeting in their native language.

" _Shuhrat_ ," Alexsandr began. " _I trust there's no bad water between this Carmen and you_?"

" _None_ ," Shuhrat bluntly replied.

" _I hope not, there's no more need of more idiotic rivalry._ "

" _Just like Jew and the Spanish woman_?"

" _Exactly_ ," Alexsandr lit up a cigarette, puffing out a cloud. " _Six has an eye for talent, but she picks people who've fought in the past. It isn't a good tactic_."

Shuhrat took what he said into consideration. He hope that whatever position he left Carmen in wasn't too awkward or rude, or rather, too vengeful. Alexsandr offered him a cigarette, refusing politely. The Russian grunted, puffing again. " _What pistol did you bring_?"

" _GSh-18_."

"Blyat, _I have the PMM_ ," Alexsandr sighed. " _And I only have one spare magazine_."

Shuhrat straightened up as the bar came into view. " _If we do the job right, we won't need it_."

" _Maybe, there will be other shots waiting at the bar._ " He chuckles. The cab made a full stop at the bar, the night causing its bright neon lights to pop more. Alexsandr slipped a large bill of pesos, thanking the driver. "Keep the change, friend."

The two stepped outside the cab as it drove off, leaving them alone. They walked inside the the bar, greeting by the dim light and loud, mellow music playing from the speakers. The people there ranged from tourists to locals, each enjoying their drinks and music. Both of the operators also noticed the amount of narcos there, fancy and bejeweled guns hanging from their belts and pockets. They were vain, something that will cost them in the future. They headed towards an empty booth away from the small crowd of patrons, taking their time slowly walking there.

Eyes followed them, watching with caution and some disgruntlement. The operators simply made themselves quite, not making any contact with anyone but themselves. A few moments passed, until mature woman came by, a small notepad in her hand. " _Inglés_?"

"Yes, two vodkas." Alexsandr answered for the both of them. She nodded and went away, the two men sat, waiting for their drinks. Alexsandr phones buzzed, pulling it out seeing that a new photo message from Eliza. It was a photo of the two new people, both named.

 _You forgot their pictures. -Eliza_

Alexsandr motioned Shuhrat to see his phone. "These is who we're looking out for. I know that you don't need the woman's face.

He saw Shuhrat's hands slightly clench. Maybe that wasn't a good little quip to say.

The woman showed up with two glasses of the clear liquid. She placed them down on the table and quickly scurried off to attend to a louder booth next to them. Shuhrat scanned around the bar, he hadn't seen the contacts at all yet, despite the time being already almost half an hour later. This was getting impatient, even.

They took sips of their drinks, feeling the peering eyes of the patrons dig into them more. Shuhrat looked at Alexsandr, giving a knowing nod. The situation was getting more dire, the people more suspicious. Ten minutes more, and that'll be it.

They finished their drinks, the waitress came back with a tray. "You want some refills?"

"Yes please," Shuhrat responded. She took the glasses back into her tray.

"That'll be the same price for the refills," She said, a hand on her hip. "You want to pay for it now?"

Shuhrat looked back at Alexsandr. "Do you have any money?"

"I gave our money to the cab driver."

Shuhrat rolled his eyes. "I'm afraid to say that we don't have any money."

The waitress scowled. "What do you mean no money, you think we serve for free? Do you know who owns this place?"

"Look, we can work something out—"

The waitress frowned. "We don't do that here, you can piss right off."

The bouncer , a narco type of man, got up and put his hand to his side, holding his gun to the side. Alexsandr gave a curt look to Shuhrat, both of their hands slowly reaching into their waistbands.

"I'll pay for them." A female voice called out, walking to the table with several bills in her hand. She gave it to the waitress, who seemed to calmed down. The bouncer retreated back, his eyes still cautious. The woman motioned the two to move over, and they obliged. The light revealed her tanned face, hazel eyes and short pixie hair that matched well with her athletic build.

"Just when the worlds end seemed so—" She introduced herself quietly, a rather stillfaced expression on it.

"Don't bother, we know who you are." Alexsandr waved her off. "Where's the other one?"

"Mateo's on his way," She said. "He'll be here soon enough."

"We'll Miss Villegas, I am Alexsandr. You already know Shuhrat, I believe."

"I do." Carmen turned to the other man and gave a small, quaint smile. "Hello Shuhrat, how are you?"

"I'm doing fine Carmen." Shuhrat bluntly stated. The older Russian rolled his eyes, sometimes the boy was just too dense.

Carmen's eyes quickly scanned around the room and finally them. Something was a little strange about this woman, possibly on that whole spectrum thing that Alexsandr hears about.

"You're carrying aren't you?" She says out of the blue. The Russians raised their brows on how easily she was able to tell.

"How did you know?" Aleksandr curiously questions.

"There's a small fold on your belts, something is blocking the harmony between them. Only a keen eye could notice such a detail. And there isn't any here to see it."

Just then, a man slammed his hands down on the table. They looked up at the sudden outburst with shock, their carelessness getting the better of them. Relief washed over all three as they recognized him as the other contact, Mateo.

Carmen sighed. "This is Mateo Ruiz, our militia contact."

Mateo gave a Cheshire grin to the three, taking the glass of un-drunk vodka and chugging some. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle any of you guys."

Shuhrat narrowed his brows. "You talk like an American, why is that."

"I was born in Sacramento, Cali." Mateo said in a hushed voice. "After my time in the Marine Force Recon, I decided to help out here in Mexico."

"Good, we leave now." Shuhrat started venturing out his seat. The rest began to follow suit until the Alexsandr noticed the waitress start to talk to a group of the narcos, pointing over to them.

"We must get out of here, quick." The Russian motioned them to move quickly to the door. They speedwalked their way up to the door before a man stopped them, his arm blocking the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" He husked.

"We paid for the drinks, we're fine." Shuhrat exclaimed.

The man gave a short chuckle before his face turned serious. "It's not the drinks guero, it's about him."

His finger pointed at Mateo, who simply stood still and frowned. "He's part of Guardians Defensores. I recognize his face anywhere."

The four traded looks as Alexsandr noticed a man come behind them. He gave a small laugh, and moved towards the man. "Hey hey, we are simple tourists, we're just trying to enjoy the night yes? Just forget what you saw here."

"Listen here, you'll give me that pinche maricon and then you can—" Alexsandr quickly slammed his fist into the gangsters throat. He clasped his neck, before Alexsandr picked him up The man behind them tried to reach into his waistband before Shuhrat kneed him in the gut and punched him down.

"We are compromised, let's get out of here." Alexsandr coolly announces, opening the door as they shuffled through. They managed to make across the street before the rest of the gangsters exited out the bar, bringing out their pistols. Carmen and Alexsandr slid over car hoods, Shuhrat brought out his pistol, firing into the other group. They ducked and dived behind parked cars, returning fire.

"Shit, I didn't think they'd recognize me." Mateo exclaimed, bringing out his Beretta. The car doors next to them formed holes as bullets passed through. Cars were not good forms of cover, they all knew that, but the narcos didn't. They aimed for the windows and doors, emptying their mags. Out of the five of them two keeled over, groaning in pain. The operators retreated into the alley, reloading their magazines.

"I am out of ammunition." Alexsandr drops his magazine into his hands. "Anyone has spare bullets?"

Carmen took an extra magazine from her pocket and ejected several rounds into his palm, quickly putting them into his magazine. "Thank you miss."

Gunfire soon broke out again as three of the gangsters followed them into the alley, shooting wildly. Alexsandr didn't flinch and aimed his pistol into the center, shooting and hitting another gangster in the chest. The man toppled over to the ground lifeless.

Shuhrat fired three times into the alley, hitting one of the other shooters in the head. The last one finally got the message and ran away, probably to get reinforcements. Carmen lined up the sights and fired, hitting him in the back. He collapsed and stayed still, but started to crawl. Shuhrat quickly grabbed her shoulder. "Come, we mustn't waste time."

They turned the corner of the alley, making their getaway.

* * *

Thatcher rubbed his brows in frustration as he heard what Eliza told him through the phone. They've been in Mexico for only a day and they already been caught in the firefight. He radioed in to the team sent to Berkeley and asked for their sitrep.

"Everything's looking good on the ground," Valkyrie replied. "I've set up three new feeds."

"Good job Valkyrie. Find any possible explosives IQ?"

"Nein, there's too many electronics on the campus. It nearly overloaded my scanner."

"Ying, X-Ray, Pulse spotted any suspects?"

"Just more skinny kids with dyed hair," X-ray chuckled. "Haven't found anything worthwhile."

Thatcher sighed and clenched his fist. Bravo was going too fast, but Alpha was going too slow. "Shit, this is going at a snail's pace. The Berkeley Republicans are about as useful as shit, couldn't give us any useful info. Report in when you have a lead."

The three sat around an outdoor table just in front of a coffee shop on the outer edges of the school, watching students pass in and out to grab their daily coffee. Just across from their table Cutter, Ghost, and Mute sat idly by, waiting for their green light. Pulse sighed, rubbing the growing stubble across his jaw. "I wouldn't think that kids would so politically influenced to do something like this."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much. The kids doing it don't even make point one percent of the schools population."

Pulse frowned. "All it takes is a few for more to follow suit."

"Pulse's right," Mei Lin said, "if the students do attack, who knows how many do the same."

That was the main concern about the whole thing on their minds. College kids aren't ones for complete moderate thinking. As X-ray rubbed the dark stubble around his jaw as he thought, Mei Lin started to chuckle. "Do all guys start to rub their facial hair when deep in thought?"

"Hm?" The both replied. They soon put their hands away to their sides. The other table started to chuckle as well, letting their compatriots know they're listening in.

"Y'know we don't have to be this close together." Pulse said.

"It's close, and the coffee isn't too bad either," Cutter chuckled. Mute simply smirked while Ghost remained stoic.

Just as that moment a young woman, no more than 20 at the most, walked up to them with a stack of flyers. She was a lithe and freckled, no sense of firmness or solidity in her stance. She spoke up when she handed them a flyer that was plastered in heavy red and blocking shapes. "Here's a flyer for the monthly lecture by Professor Alfred Bowen for the talk of Marxist and Revolutionary studies. Bring your friends to this location on the back of the flyer."

Ying took the flyer and smiled. "Uh, thank you for the invitation."

The woman nodded. "We're always looking for attendees. We'll be seeing you soon."

She then turned to the other table, and handed Cutter a flyer. The man smiled back and wished her a good day.

The three looked at each other in slight amusement. The mission suddenly gotten much more simple. Pulse signaled into his earpiece and brought Jackal's voice into his ear. He was just across the corner, smoking a cigarette while waiting for a go. "Jackal, make sure you track her, maybe she could lead us to a place sooner."

"I'm on it amigo." He replied, tossing the cigarette.

"Thank god for coincidence." Pulse laughed.

X-ray called back Thatcher, motioning for the flyer. Once he got it back he looked at the address written on the back, trying to memorize the street name. After a few rings, Thatcher finally answered. "Thatcher, we have a suspect and location."

"Finally some good news. Lay it on me."

"A professor named Alfred Bowen is hosting a Marxist lecture somewhere on school campus, at—"

Suddenly a hand ripped away the paper from X-ray's hand. He looked up to see a man with scraggly facial hair and an angry expression on his face. "Don't bother coming narc, we don't want fascists attending."

"Fascists? Where'd you get that idea?" Pulse questioned.

"Just shut up and leave." Three more other students started circling the table, seemingly less identifiable than their other classmates. Dark clothing with no obvious brands or designs, no identifiable body features either. These were good daywear for a person who didn't wanted to be noticed. These were prime suspects.

The other table stood silent. The best course was for them to remain that way. They kept a watchful eye just in case.

The leader of the group stood tall against X-ray, the latter being un-intimidated by the bearded man. "Tell your bosses over at your pro-capitalist regime that we won't be intimidated by police. Fuck off and die pig."

The three operators were left stunned at the encounter, the group of students leaving them. They looked around for any more possible people like them, but to no avail. To the rest of the students it was like the incident didn't even occur. Jackal came back into comms, buzzing in everyone's ear. "That look liked it went well."

"Not the time Jackal," Ying frowned. "Not the time."

"Jackal, track that group before they leave," X-ray soon added. "We don't want them to get away."

"I'm on it, adios." Jackal got up from his corner and trailed the group at a safe distance, disappearing with the constant flow of students.

X-ray called back to Thatcher on the phone, picking up almost immediately. "Thatcher, we have a problem."

"What is it?"

"Seems like a group of suspects just ID'd is to be cops, our compromise is blown." X-ray bluntly stated, there was no point in mincing words. "Afraid we're gonna be targets on campus."

"Bloody shit," Thatcher cursed. He rubbed under his chin, contemplating on what to do with them now. "RTB, we'll have information waiting for your next step of the plan. Tell the others they're staying on campus."

"Understood, we'll be back to the nest shortly." He touched his phone off and got up, Pulse and Ying following shortly after. "Old man said to RTB, we're gonna have to leave."

"What about us?" Mute asked.

"Seems like you're staying for now."

Ghost suddenly stood up from his seat, brushing himself off of nonexistent dust. "I don't want to spend another minute here, I'll help you back to base."

"If you want to." Pulse said. He threw down a tip and pushed in his seat. "Let's get going."

"Coffee was too expensive anyways." Ying jokes. The four of them walked away as Pulse tuned into the feed from Valkyrie's new cameras, set up in several locations both traffic-heavy and obscure. Pulse chuckled, putting away his phone.

"Valk had a field day, got up to five new camera angles."

Ying suddenly got a ding from her phone. She took it out and read her message. "Dokkaebi also managed to enter to the campus' CCTV, so we have new cameras working in our favor."

"Plan's going great so far. Let's get out of here."

The four walked down the road outside of the campus when they suddenly heard a woman calling out for help. They saw a young girl, a student perhaps, being dragged into the street corner. No one else was around the area it seemed. The calls suddenly became more desperate, louder and uglier.

A look of worry came to Ying's face, before shuffling her way to the alleyway. "C'mon, someone needs help."

Pulse cursed to himself. "Shit, this won't be good."

The men followed after Ying until they reached the alleyway to see it was completely empty. Ghost turned to Pulse and motioned him to outside the alley. "Stay back and watch our six, we don't want followers from the suspects."

Pulse nodded. "I'm on it."

He scurried away from the alleyway and out of site. Ying and X-ray gotten deeper to the alley before they saw the feet of a woman poking out behind the other side of a dumpster. She kneeled down to the woman, who covered her face. This was when X-ray noticed something. The woman wasn't bruised at all on her wrists or hands, and she clutched something into her abdomen. Suddenly the dumpster's hatch propped up open and a masked man whipped out a gun on Ying.

"Mei Lin!" X-ray grabbed her sweaters collar and yanked her forcefully from the gunman's sight. She fell back hard as the gunman turn towards X-ray. Ghost reacted quickly, drawing his pistol and hitting the enemy once in his forehead, killing him instantly. A door next to Ghost swung open and leaped out his gun, firing randomly into Ghost. He took bullets and tumbled down, before Pulse caught up and shot the second gunman.

X-ray turned around to see that Ghost was down and not moving. The woman suddenly leaped from the side of the dumpster with a knife in her hand. X-ray quickly grabbed her wrist and twisted it, forcing her to drop it. He flipped over her arm and threw her against the dumpster, a heavy thud as her head banged against the rim.

The gunman screamed in pain as he crippled to the floor, clutching arm. "Oh god, I can't feel my it, I can't feel my arm!"

"Serves you right you son of a bitch." Pulse spat, checking on Ghost first. X-ray held a hand down to Ying, who stood shellshocked on the dirty floor.

"C'mon, we got a mess to clean."

She grabbed his hand and hoisted herself up, quickly checking on the woman. She put two fingers to her neck and examined her head. "She's alive, and probably has a bad concussion."

"Shit," Pulse exclaimed as his realization of Ghost's condition. "He's hit pretty bad, I need a medic now!"

Ying quickly rushed over and helped Pulse lift up his clothes and examined the wound. Several holes leaked profusely from the left side of his body, from his hip to his armpit. X-ray quickly examined his wounds, it must've hit an artery or two, and his pelvis was definitely shattered on the side. He'd seen this too many times before, he knew a goner when he saw one.

And like that, X-ray caught a glimpse of the past. The entire area felt dry and hot, and the lights were dim. He saw Ghost laying on the floor, clutching his side as blood pooled around him except… he changed.

His face morphed. It morphed to something so familiar and yet—

"Isaac, call help!" Ying interrupted, her hands and body covered in red liquid. Pulse tried to stop the bleeding, placing a tourniquet around his thigh and lifting his legs up. Ying's rosy face morphed into desperation and implorement. "He's losing too much blood."

X-ray snapped out of his trance and quickly dialed up the phone to HQ. Thatcher picked up, sounding a little annoyed. "What is it—"

"We have several casualties over at Berkeley and we need immediate medical attention now at our location." X-ray huffed. The feeling of vomiting was becoming more demanded. "Now!"

"Shit, understood. We're sending in ambulances and backup right away. Stay put and try to hold your position, I'm calling the rest of the team back. Thatcher out."

X-ray recollected himself after he stepped over to the wall and spewed up his coffee and lunch all over. He took a few shuddered breaths as he went over to the rest of the operators. They both stopped trying to save him and only looked tensely at the corpse. Pulse looked stern, but Ying seemed to be more regretful. The groaning from the other gunman came into X-ray's ears, turning around to see the wounded man trying to reach for his gun.

He quickly walked over to the doorway and picked up the gun. A cheap SMG, chambered for 9 mil and equipped with a silencer looking more like a thermos. X-ray through the gun to the side and stepped on the man's shattered arm, causing him an excruciating scream. He noticed the mask he was wearing. It was definitely a White Mask, or at least a cheap imitation of one.

"Who are you?"

The gunman spat at him. "F-fuck you! Go and die!"

X-ray bent over and picked up the mask from his face. Underneath it revealed an average looking man, nothing discernible about him. "A real White Mask wouldn't be so sloppy with an ambush like that. Who are you?"

He shuddered. "I'm a revolutionary."

The operator pressed his foot down harder. More blood leaked and bones cracked more. He clenched his arm as he began to sob in pain. "S-stop, please!"

"Tell me who the hell you are and who you work for you piece of shit!" X-ray grabbed the man by his clothes and threw him against a brick wall. "Tell me!"

"W-we're students! We got sent in to deal with you by Commander Che!"

"Who the fuck is Che? Is he Professor Bowen!?"

"He's—"

His answer was cut short when the side of his caved in like a broken watermelon. X-ray quickly dropped the man and twisted to the right and saw the girl had gotten up. Along with Pulse and Ying, he took out his gun and emptied his mag into the woman. She fell to the floor, covered in holes and unmoving.

"Jesus," Pulse muttered, getting up from the soiled floor. "This is a gigantic fuck up."

* * *

The ambulances and cop cars arrived moments later as the four bodies were taken away by stretchers and paramedics. Isaac looked around th scene, staring blankly into the bloody alleyway. Jack wasn't so fazed by the attack or John's passing, it seemed. He didn't know the man well enough, none of them did. Isaac did see Mei Lin sulk away from the alley, carrying an aura of melancholy with her. He furrowed his brows, this wasn't what was suppose to happen at all.

"X-ray, sir." He heard the familiar voice of Agent Reed call. She was behind him with a notebook in hand.

"Please," he held up his hand. "Just call me Isaac."

"Well, Isaac sir," she stuttered. "What happened?"

"Well, we were lead into the alley after we heard a woman scream for help. They ambushed us and now we lost a man." There's no reason to sugarcoat it, Isaac thought.

"Sorry for the lost sir."

"Yeah, me too." He quickly walked away from her and ventured to wherever Mei Lin had wandered off. After searching he found her on a bench only a few dozen feet away the alley. She looked tired, her usually rosy cheeks pale. He took a seat next to her, and didn't say a word.

"It's my fault." She finally admitted to him. "If I didn't go into the alley, he wouldn't have died."

Isaac didn't say anything still. She turned to him and started to furrow in anger. "Didn't you hear me, he's dead. He's dead because of me! All he wanted to do was help the world and I ruined it for him."

She began to lightly sob through the words, her voice shaky. "Say something Isaac."

"What do you want me to say?" He stated. "That it is your fault? That it wasn't? He knew what he went into Mei, we all know the risks."

"And—"

"So that doesn't make it anyone's fault but our own." He said. "None of us really knew John, I'm going to be honest. His family will mourn him, we'll grieve that we lost a valuable member of the team, and whoever else gives a crap about us will give their condolences."

Mei Lin didn't say a word. She only let few tears stream down. She looked at Isaac once more, his face was hard and yet... vulnerable. "The truth is, it could've been you. It could've been Jack, me, or even any of the others. It could've been other students. We can't control every little thing in these things Mei, and we have to accept that."

Mei Lin sniffled. She calmed down her emotions and wiped away the stray tears that fell through her cheeks. Isaac never liked seeing women cry, it made him feel like he didn't do something to prevent it.

She stood up and faced Isaac, and hugged him. Isaac didn't react at first, but hugged her back. After a few moments she broke away, and left the bench.

* * *

 **A/N: R.I.P. John "Ghost" Nilsson, Mandalore the Freedom's OC. This was no harsh or maladjusted choice, just one it felt like the most comfortable to me. I did not originally intend for the ending of this chapter to be so… angsty. I don't know how I did on it, considering I don't write angst.**

 **Sorry for the longer wait as well, I'm just gonna be honest I was lazy this weekend :P.**

 **I also learned that Chinese names also do the Last Name/First Name deal, but unlike other Asian languages, they aren't switched around when translated into English generally. So Siu Mei Lin would be Mei Lin (first) Siu (Last), which I thought was strange. So I've been referring to Ying by the wrong name, lol.**

 **Leave a review, tell me what you think and check out my poll!**

 **-Mister Bombastic**


	14. Operation Red Spring: Interrogation

The mission escalated enough were Rainbow came to little autonomy during the duration of the mission, at least that's what Agent Foster declared when he learned of the several dead on the field, including one of Rainbow's newer operatives. As per orders of Six and his own powers, he set an emergency meeting in the HQ for Berkeley, with all Rainbow operatives inside. He was in charge, for now.

"What happened yesterday was a fuck up," he put bluntly. "Not only did one operator die, news is now swarming the campus about a triple homicide just outside their school doors."

"Just tell the news it was gang dispute, that should cause them to back off for a bit." Echo replied casually.

"Regardless of what we tell them," Foster put his hands down on the table, "the school is on a security binge, means we can't just walk in like before. The only good news we have so far is the location of the meeting thanks to your colleagues not getting caught."

"Right, about that. Who exactly is Professor Bowen?" IQ raised her hand casually. "I searched all over the school registry and—"

"Professor Bowen is an alias," Foster replied."His true identity is unknown, but we suspect he may have been a former student of Berkeley."

Foster turned to a board full of photos and connections of previous White Mask activity and attacks. He pointed to a photo to a man, long styled hair with a bushy beard that screamed the 70's fashion of a counterculture college kid.

"Cortez, explain who this man is."

"Got it sir," Cortez nodded."We have a theory that former student, activist, and hippie poster child Albert Powell is Alfred Bowen. During the beginning and end of the Vietnam war he spent his time protesting and detesting the conflict through rallies and his student newspaper called the People's Revolt."

He then switched to an older Polaroid photo of homemade bombs, covered by a dark basement roof. "At the end of the conflict he planned an armed revolt with a now dead student Marxist political group. They made homemade bombs and were raided after a tip told the FBI about their attack."

"And Albert was caught?" Caveira asked.

"No, he wasn't. He managed to escape and leave the country," Cortez pointed out. "It was believed that he left to Cuba."

Foster took over again. "Emphasis on 'believed', Cortez. It has come to our intention that he's always been in the United States, living under a new name in Oregon."

The crowd looked around. It was strange for a criminal to remain in the US, especially when the crime was on a political or terroristic level. Isaac pondered on how he was able to supply himself, if he kept himself out of harm's way.

Pulse spoke up. "Do you still think they're related to the White Masks in any way? The people who attacked us were wearing them, and it was a decent enough ambush that I'm sure these kids wouldn't know how to do."

"I'm starting to believe that the White Masks are involved," Foster admitted. "We don't know what Powell's true intentions are. And if he did receive weapons from Boleslav as your intel suggests, then we have to act as soon as possible."

"That's all we need to hear," Thatcher announces. "IQ, Echo, Mute: attend the meeting and find out what this Professor Bowen preaches on about. Cav and X-ray, interrogate those bastards that attacked us, I imagine that they're easy to make them squeal."

"On it old man," Mute joked. The three assigned to the meeting stood up and began to walk out the room, heading off to the doorway.

"Cortez, go with the Bowen meeting. Reed, head to the interrogation room."

"Yes sir."

"Understood."

The group divided up and began to leave the debriefing room and into their new objectives. Thatcher turned away as the rest began to scatter about, leaving him and Foster to themselves. "Have we gotten any news from Mexico at all?"

Thatcher shook his head. "Last time contact was made was a mission update on our side. Ash told us they were moving in on a location but it cut out after that."

"That is not good," Foster muttered.

"I know it isn't." He scowls. Thatcher wished he still had more control as he usually did, he was not use to the feeling of being told what to do. Rainbow hasn't had a casualty in years, so it's been a while since the protocol was practice.

"Look," Foster began. "I understand that losing a team member isn't great for anyone, even if you didn't know him well, but it means that it's getting riskier and you need the assistance. You can't do everything lonewolf."

Thatcher looked up at Foster. The agent was right, the missions stakes went higher as time passed.

"Once we get a location for Bowen, we're moving in and shutting this down." Thatcher slipped out the planning room, leaving Foster to himself. He chuckled, looking at the picture of Bowen on the board next to the young photo of Powell.

He snipped off the photo and shook it gently in his hand. It was time to make a call.

* * *

The ambushed winced at every feint punch and motion they would make. Caveira got a rise out of it, seeing how much he cower under a false fist. X-ray simply stood back in the corner, letting the Brazilian have her fun. Caveira finally went through with a real punch into the young woman's nose. Not hard enough to break, but hard enough to know she can break it if she feels like it.

"Please let me go, I promise I won't ever do anything else like this again!"

"A promise isn't anything desgraçado," Caveira said, circling around her like a vulture. "I want results."

"I-I didn't know that any of you would get hurt, they said they wanted to capture you."

Caveira gave a dark chuckle. "Tell that to the man you help killed."

The girl sobbed. She covered her face as broken words emerged with sudden breaths and cracks. "I just—"

"Just what?" Caveira leaned in close.

"I just wanted to help out the people. Bowen was so charismatic and smart, he told us who the real enemy is, and what to do to stop them."

"Bowen?" X-ray uncrossed his arms and walked up to her view. "As in Professor Alfred Bowen?"

A sudden realization came over her face. She just blurted out the name of a suspect. "N-no, I meant—"

"Tell Thatch that Bowen is now a confirmed member of the People's Liberation Militia."

"It's Army…" she whispered under her breath.

"You're really not good at being quite, are you?" Caveira eyed the woman. She covered her face again, realizing she just confirmed again the intel they need.

"We knew it was Army," X-ray smiled. "Thanks for confirming."

"Now," Caveira kneels behind the restrained woman, her knife coming into view. "Let's learn some more secrets."

The dark blade carefully twisted and nicked the edges of the girls fingers on the table, a harbinger of what's to come. A devious smile came into Caveira's face when she saw the girl's reaction to her knife tricks. X-ray frowned, this woman seriously needed a deep psychiatric evaluation.

"Cav, I think that's enough."

The Brazilian woman stopped her tricks and stared intensely at X-ray, before giving a disappointed frown and leaving the girl alone. Caveira backed away from her, crossing her arms in silence.

X-ray pulled close to the girl and sat down on the table, toying with his fingers. "What's your name, ma'am?"

"I-it's Evelyn."

"Evelyn, I had a friend named that once." X-ray gave a calm smile. "So Evelyn, life was easy growing up right?"

The question made her stare at X-ray quizzically, especially with Caveira, who raised an eyebrow as well.

"I guess so," Evelyn replied sheepishly. "Both of my parents were around, and I did—"

"You did well in school, never really picked on kids or were shy, huh?"

"Yeah…"

"Because if you were good, people will like you. And when you're a kid, that meant cool stuff you can get. I think I can understand what you're coming from now."

"T-that's not why I was—"

"Let me finish." His voice was rough and authoritative, something that took even Caveira by surprise. She never really heard him talk outside his usual polite demeanor.

"You were like that as a kid for selfish reasons that eventually became," X-ray gesticulated, "altruistic and good-hearted. You never worried about money or having the lights shut off or not having food in the fridge."

"I didn't…"

"You didn't, but you knew other kids near you lived like that. They couldn't wear the new clothes or only ate whenever they found money. They were treated badly in life and you never thought it was fair that you lived so comfortably while they meandered through paycheck," X-ray leaned in. "Isn't that right?"

Evelyn swallowed her emotions. "Yes, that's right."

"So college comes around and someone says that all that can be fixed, if only we could make everyone equal."

"There's a system that makes everyone equal, it was—

"Communism, more specifically anarchy-based Marxism as told by Professor Bowen, correct?"

She nodded, tears started to stream her face gently. "Everyone is equal under the state, and every man cares for everyone else and vice versa."

"There'll be resistance to that dangerous idealism, because the rich capitalists don't want to lose their money."

"Y-yes…"

"So he tells you we need to take action now, or else the revolution dies."

She let out a choked cry. "We needed to start the spark."

"And that's why you and your friends discovered us, and decided to ambush us under Bowen. And that's why one of our own is dead, and why your friends are dead."

She brushed back a strand of red hair, her face scrunching up from a sudden sob.

"I never knew that it would come to this." She admitted. "Professor Bowen always said in order for revolution to begin, there must be fighting but I didn't want to fight."

X-ray crosses his arms. He just needed to squeeze in more until he got what he wanted.

"Bowen isn't a good strategist, isn't he?"

"I don't know," she sniffles. "He said he was in the military during the 60's. He taught us how to use guns. He calls himself Commander Che all the time, and it rubbed off on us."

X-ray's victory showed in a smile. He got up from the table and let his hand rubbed the girl's shoulder comfortably, attempting to ease whatever tension she had. She simply sniffled in response, her eyes red from crying. "Thank you for talking Evelyn."

She didn't say anything back. Caveira smirked at the display, heading out the door behind her. Soon two guards came in the room and grabbed the girl from her chair, urging her outside. She complied with no resistance.

"That was some questioning," Cav said. "Could've gone faster if you let me do my thing."

"Appearances Taina," X-ray simply uttered. "It wouldn't look good if she started to miss nails under our care."

"I wasn't gonna do anything with her nails, just her fingers."

X-ray shot a look at her, before scoffing and shaking his head. There was a moment of silence, but it ended when X-ray spoke up.

"The girl reminds me of an old friend."

"Who?"

"Her name's Hillary."

"Not gonna specify on how she reminded you of this Hillary?"

X-ray gave a small chuckle. "I'll tell you later, when we become besties and trade friendship bracelets."

She rolled her eyes, leaving the interrogation room to just himself. Hillary kept popping up in his mind, like short bursts of lights of a distant memory. And yet, it felt as if he barely saw her yesterday. This worried him the most, Hillary's seemingly tight hold on his mind.

He sighed and tried to forget about the whole thing, looking around the interrogation room for something to occupy him. Maybe some mindless sitting will do him some good.

X-ray pulled the chair out of the room and enjoyed the silence it had to offer.

* * *

 _The day before..._

"Any time we had is now gone," Ash stated. "I just received word that one of our operators, John Nilsson, just died in a shootout with the PLA. We need to confirm the location of our targets and advance."

Hushed whispers ran through the crowd, with little frowns sprinkled in. Losing an operator was evidence of a harder trial.

"Mateo and Carmen have a lead on our targets, so I'll let them take the floor." She stepped aside, the two Mexican taking her spot.

"I am Carmen Villegas, and this is Mateo Ruiz Gutierrez. I work with GOPES, while Mateo is an unofficial leader in the Militia Movement. We are all you have so far for help."

"Can we trust a yokel who just picked up a gun?" James asked unequivocally.

"I'm not a yokel. I was in Marine Force Recon until I retired and came here."

"And why would you come here?"

Mateo shrugged. "They needed help, it was getting bad down here."

"Anyways," Carmen interjected. "Our sources tell us that the Cartel who sold the weapons to the Americans usually frequent this club during the night."

A slender finger pointed at the front of a club, seemingly innocent with patrons entering in and out of the building. "In the basement, the local Cartel operates fluidly. The basement leads to a large empty sewer pipe, they enter the sewage system, and smuggle whatever they need through the pipes."

"Just to think I'm gonna be stepping in my own morning ritual." James chuckled. "So how do you suppose we enter through the building, guns blazing or discreetly?"

Carmen was about to answer when she was suddenly pushed aside by Shuhrat, seeing a metal ball being tossed in through the balcony. "Grenade!"

The crowd began to duck to cover as Alexsandr grabbed the grenade and tossed it out the balcony door. It exploded soon after, gunfire following form the street below. Everyone laid on the floor, Miles slowly crawling towards his duffel bag, getting out the beige and red ballistic panels.

The gunfire stopped soon after. Miles jumped from the floor and quickly placed his barricade over the left balcony window and securing it tightly with his nail gun. "Barricade set! We got some cover."

The people on the left side of the room cautiously got up as the began to grab their weapons and load them. Shuhrat grabbed a drown and threw it out the other open window, being met with another round of gunfire. It narrowly scraped the drone before it crashed roughly on the street. He peered it around an old car to see that there was four assailants, already blasting through the entrance.

"I got four hostiles entering the building through the lobby."

"Understood everyone gear up, we're moving out now!"

Everyone began to crawl around for their vests and armor, wrapping them tightly around their chests. Mateo grabbed his Galil ACE and began to load a mag in. He turned towards another operator besides him, Craig Jenson.

"Does this type of thing happen often?" He said, putting on his ballistic vest. Craig just laughed heartily as his response.

"You fucking bet!"

Alexsandr seemed rather calm about this. He stowed away to his baggage and shifted through it almost absentmindedly. Eliza looked on befuddled, quickly loading a magazine in her pistol. "What in God's name are you doing this time Alexsandr?"

"Relax Eliza," he calmly said, grabbing his DP-28 out from the duffel bag. He quickly ripped off the ballistic shield on the rail of the gun, tossing to the side.

"You're gonna get shot without that thing!" Eliza called out. Elena simply scowled at the broken piece of shielding that now laid on the floor, picking up the piece.

"I'm not putting that back on your gun you capullo."

"Don't worry about it Elena," Alexsandr pulled the gun into his arms, cocking the large drum magazine into readiness. "Everyone else get ready, it's time to get serious!"

* * *

 **A/N: Will Tachanka save the day? Find out next time!**

 **A chapter shorter than average, but besides that nothing really new here, so I don't got much to say. Leave a review and tell me what you think!**

 **Also, check out my poll on my profile, I'll be closing it by Saturday so tell me your answers!**

 **-Mister Bombastic**


	15. Operation Red Spring: Captives

Alexsandr opened the door to the hallway abruptly, while the other tourists and visitors who peeked their heads out of the way immediately recoiled back at the presence of the burly man. He stood waiting as the hallway's footsteps became louder and aggressive, nearing the end of the hall.

Alexsandr cracked his neck, popping noises drowning out screams and gunshots coming closer. The Russian relaxed his arms, he felt as if he no longer carried his weapon, but instead felt an addition of himself aiming towards the hallway. The cries of the hit squad became louder, cursing along the way. At this moment Alexsandr felt that all the time in the world was in his control, and everything will go his way.

The fine tunes and strums of Balalaika began flooding his hearing, growing louder and louder until the highest note rang out when the enemy appeared at the end of the hallway. They looked amateurish at best, carrying small weak SMGs. He squeezed the trigger of his DP-28, and the strums of Balalaikas soon transformed into a symphony of music. It became like dancing, now, the way the bodies spun around when they were shot. The hit squad were all but decimated by the sheer obliteration of the weapon. Alexsandr wasn't even halfway through the magazine when it the assassins were nothing chunks and corpses of their former selves.

Alexsandr shook his head in disappointment, it wasn't a fair fight. "Hmpfh, amateurs."

"It's all clear," Alexsandr called out, resting the hot gun on his shoulder. "You can come out for now for lunch."

Team Bravo spilled out of the decimated room on a hurry, destroying the evidence they could. Eliza looked at the scene before her with a sudden sickening feeling in the pit of her belly, but it quickly washed away. "You could've been more clean."

"Da, but it would've taken longer."

Eliza pretended she didn't hear the reply. The team began loading into their gear as Craig placed the ballistic shield back into his SCAR, clacking echoed. "I'm taking point, get behind me!"

The team lined up behind the Navy SEAL and started to walk down the hall with their weapons drawn. It was hard to tell how many actually went up thanks to the Spetznaz's work. Tze Long groaned in disgust, stepping over a chunk of flesh. "Can't even tell how many people this is."

James looked around the floor and spotted two dark oblongs covered in scarlet and pink. "I think that was two of them," he nearly slipped on a another metal piece, grabbing Miles in the process. "Shit, maybe three."

"That means one's still around, keep your eyes peeled people!"

"We can't go to the police," Carmen added. "They've probably paid them off until the hit is done."

"That's not good, where are we going to stay?"

Mateo quickly rushed up ahead and checked the corners of the hallway, retreating back with the group. "My men have a safe house that we can stay until we set ourselves out."

The team found the staircase to lead them down to the next level. They slowly crawled down like a worm, peeking every angle of the stairs for any extra enemies. Miles stayed back as he quickly checked his drone camera. Another van suddenly swerved into the street while more bystanders began to run away in fear. Out poured four more men, armed with bigger weapons, running into the building.

"Four more tangos spotted, they're coming in right through the front door."

Craig nodded dutifully and climbed down the stairs, peeking over a corner. He was met with gunfire, his ballistic shield blocked a stray round. "We got company!"

Craig peeked again and saw the figures moving behind furniture. He aimed his rifle and popped a shot, hitting a hit man in the chest. The rest of the squad returned fire, climbing into overturn tables and containers. The hitmen stumbled around cover as the blindly let out gunfire into the team, grazes and nearly headshots increasing. Alexsandr stepped out of cover and took out his DP-28 and cocked it back, ready to unload the rest of the magazine. Suddenly the thing exploded, a tear ripping the barrel like paper. His tool useless, he threw it to the ground, bringing out his SASG-12. "ty svolochi, ty zaplatish!"

He emptied the 12 gage mag into the lobby, papers and fabric exploding everywhere. This was perfect timing for stun grenades. Eliza and Craig threw two flashbangs, the enemies blinded and disoriented. Before any could rush, Carmen stepped up and motioned them back before bringing out a grenade like device in her hand. "Stand back and watch."

She pulled the pin and let it fly. "Get to cover!" She tossed it behind the cover of the disoriented hitmen. It then exploded, but no loud noise showed. Instead a swarm of Flechettes shot out and struck three of the hitmen, causing them to keel over in sudden pain. Two of them died then and there, but one managed to bring his gun up. Shuhrat quickly struck him in the forehead, killing the man.

Shuhrat quickly emptied his magazine and pulled out another. As the firing stopped, only a The floating dust stayed up.

"Is that all of them?" Spoke said, reloading a shell into his shotgun. The other hitman peeked his head over his cover and began to fire. The group ducked under his barrage, before he looked nervously back to the doorway. "Spoke too soon!"

The last hit man desperately ran from his cover and fired blindly into the squad. His gun suddenly clicked empty, and it didn't take long for the rest to light him up like a Christmas tree, falling down at the foot of the doorway. The team made their way through the destroyed lobby and had their roll call, and assuring that they weren't bad guys to any civilian that decided to poke out when they arrived out of their hiding places.

They left the building and onto the street. The driver of the van just exited out of the doorway and drew out a pistol. James quickly blew him away with a blast of his shotgun, launching a few feet back. He quickly walked to the van door and opened it up. "Let's take the van, yeah?"

"Where the hell are we gonna go?" Miles asked, picking up his drone from nearby.

"Let me drive us to my safe house, today can guarantee protection until we've got ourselves the shit we need," Mateo offered, taking the drivers door.

Everyone looked around uneasily. It was hard to trust a simple militia man. Alexsandr took the passengers door. "We have no choice, we stay in the streets and we're pigs awaiting slaughter."

As if his word was gospel, they followed after him. They piled into the van, with Ela closing the backdoors as everyone finally entered.

"Alright, from now on codenames only, got it?" Ash checked her magazine, putting it back inside her gun.

"Understood boss," Lesion replied, picking out his pick. "Where are we heading now?"

"I'm trusting that Mateo can lead us from danger until we get a response from Six," Ash responded. "In the meantime we're under the mercy of the militia."

"Waiting around is going to get us nowhere," Ela started up. "By the time Six talks to us we could be exposed again."

"It's our only option now Ela, now stand down."

"No I won't, we can draw them out and ambush them right then and there."

"Ela, I said to stand down! You're not in charge of this team," Ash commanded, meeting eye level with the woman. "We are not in a position to attack, and especially with one death up north we are definitely not in a position to lose any more people, now sit down!"

Ela scoffed and looked around the van, waiting on her apparently. She submitted to the stares and frowned, sitting and crossing her arms. Ash sighed and and turned to Carmen, who examined her G3 rifle. "What's your codename?"

" _Flecha_ , Arrow."

"Mine's Loco, by the way," Mateo waved without turning from the road.

Ash leaned into her seat and pulled out her phone, only to see it actually busted by a deep scar on the screen, and a large tear in her pocket. A stray round must've busted the screen. She'll call Six later. "Loco, take us to the safe house ASAP, and maybe we'll get this mission going normally."

* * *

The presentation hall was large, it's seating able to hold hundreds of people in a single setting. That wasn't the case it seemed, because there was only a meager forty people filling up the first rows at best. Monika examined the crowd that surrounded her, twenty somethings dressed in a whole array of demographics and races. This was a startling thing, one must realize that if an idea is universally liked by certain people, then any lines of race or nation melt away. This professor has to be a great orator, or his message must be invigorating.

Her thoughts were broken when she heard the creaking of the seat next to her. She cursed in her native tongue, seeing it was only Ethan, the new Canadian on the team. "Scheisse, you scared me."

"What's scary is the amount of people here," The Canadian said. "If they ordered a hundred rifles, does that mean they already have hundred people ready?"

Monika paused to think about the question. How much support did Bowen really have?

That question was meant for another time, there isn't enough time as it is. She looked over to Mark and Cortez, who sat at a distance away from her and Ethan. They acknowledged her and looked away as the motion of the crowd died down.

Echo sat near the front among other students. He simply gave a glance to the other to let them know that he was still there.

The audiences side conversations ended quickly when the door of the platform opened in quietly. Two burley men held open the door, their faces covered by the dark hoods of their sweaters and black bandanas. Bowen himself was an impressive old man, his hair staunch and white, the unbridled beard that reminisced of Karl Marx. His stare was deep, eyes heavy and dark with bags. He swaggered his way to the podium and firmly clasped his hands on the wood. The guards closed the doors behind him, Bowen tilting his head and nodding.

"My friends," he began in a loud, booming voice. "My comrades, my children. Today is a remarkable day of the historic struggle of the Proletariat. The bourgeoisie government have sent their goons and attacked us just yesterday. Now one of our own lies dead in the ground, and two more are taken away."

A wave of murmurs began to emerge. Monika looked into the crowd and saw Mark staring back, a curt nod to signify that he's still here. Monika turned towards Ethan, who frowned. "'Attacked us?' How dare they…"

"Keep your composure Yi," she warned, "there's no reason to blow our cover just yet."

Ethan leaned back into his chair and crossed his arms. A comrade of his died and this Bowen had the audacity to act as if they're the victims. Ethan shook it off, and kept listening to his lecture.

"This attack only further confirms my suspicions: We are out of time, we must take action. I see plenty of new faces here, and I must tell you that this journey will not be an easy one. To be willing to die for the greatest movement the modern man has faced will be the bravest thing you can achieve. If any of you must, you feel free to leave the same slave life you're ancestors spent all their lives, and continue living in ignorant bliss."

Bowen knew that there were only four new faces, and he knew exactly who they were.

A few students began to uneasily get up and leave, while others contemplated on their thoughts. Monika looked over to Mark and Cortez and nodded. Someone had to deliver what information back to Baker. The two stood up and left the room with another student.

Besides the one, no student left the attendance. Bowen smiled smugly, before returning back to his hardened face.

"Throughout history, the struggle of proletariat has been largely ignored and downright villiannized by the upper class traitors. Marx and Engels has the voice, but they were weak." An extra emphasis was added to the 'weak', then his tone took a more drastic approach. "It was the ones who took up arms that made change. It was Trotsky, it was Stalin, it was Lenin, it was the people who decided that they weren't slaves and revolted against the bourgeoisie. From there, they tried to pave a way to equality and freedom."

Monika couldn't stand this drabble. She grew up in the East German government at its height and fall, Monika experienced the so called 'utopia' the Russians had set for her people.

The professor went on, not really anything different besides reiterating his message. Until that is, when he mentioned the support they've been getting.

"Comrades, you heard of these people," he started, bringing down a projection screen. The images showed on the screen were all Monika needed to bring back.

It showed men in the White Mask, posing over the bodies of dead cops and soldiers. The crowd gasp and some averted their gaze, but for the most part people watched with curiosity. "They are the White Masks, tcalled terrorists and murderers by the media and world rulers. Don't be fooled by their lies."

The crowd began to speak amongst themselves. Bowen quieted then down with a simple lowering of his hand. "They have the same dream as us, they have the same aspirations and hopes and plan. They have something that we lack, however."

The crowd listened attentively to his words.

"They have the means of creating a revolution. They've proved to the Hard Left of the world that such a dream like ours is possible only to those who take the chance. As such, they've offered their services to us, and we'd be fools to decline. If you're still on board, then stay. But if you are too much of a coward, then leave."

She bumped her elbow into Ethan's side gently. "We're leaving."

"Got it."

The two started from their chairs and left the building, not looking behind them once. As they left Bowen clasped his hands together. They left, what fools they are. "My children, now is the time we act. Please, look up to the screen."

The projection screen displayed fresh images, the faces of Monika, Mark, and Ethan in full quality and zoom. "These people are spies, sent to uncover and expose our dream."

The crowd began to silently gasp and speak amongst each other. Bowen took control of the crowd. "They must not be allowed to leave the building. Try your best to subdue them and bring them back alive."

They were halfway down the hall when Monika quickly dialed for Baker. He answered almost immediately, not waiting for anything. "Monika, what have you heard?"

"It's confirmed, Bowen is working with the White Masks. He just showed it to dozens of new recruits."

"This is the shit we've been waiting for," Mike couldn't have sound more happier. "Alright, get Cortez, Mark, and Ethan to come back to base."

"Wait, Mark and Cortez aren't already there?"

"No, we thought they were with you."

Before either can respond, a sudden force knocked harshly on the back of Monika's head, sending her crashing down to the floor. She laid there unconscious as some blood sprang from her hit.

Ethan kneeled to check her. "Shit!"

"Monika, what was that? Monika—" the phone was quickly stomped out underneath the heavy boot of a recipient. Ethan was surrounded by black bloc recruits, the blank face of White Masks hiding their fear. Their stance and essence were scared and nervous, a dangerous combination.

A sudden arm grabbed Ethan, but he was quick. He quickly dismantled the grip and tossed the person down to the floor easily, before he felt a surging pain on his back, then nothing. Ethan collapsed, the burned shirt the result from a high power taser. The recruits surrounded them and quickly grabbed their hands and tied them up, blindfolding them and dragging them away.

Bowen stood patiently at the spot where the spies were ambushed. He saw a small amount of blood on the floor, and frowned in disgust. He took out a napkin and wiped it away, sliding it to his pocket. "Someone get the woman some medical attention, she might be bleeding."

He turned to the bodyguards that accompanied him. "Is the other one captured?"

"Yes boss, he's in the basement like you wanted."

Bowen smiled. "Good, now get me a camera. We got a message to show to the sons of bitches that sent them to their graves."

* * *

Mike couldn't believe what just happened. He dialed up Echo on his phone, and was immediately greeted by a text.

I'm in too deep, can't talk now.

Mike tossed his phone across the room and smashed against the wall. He alerted an emergency meeting with the remaining team on the PA system of the Base of Operations. Foster showed up immediately to ask him what required the meeting.

"They just captured our guys," Mike blunted. "The situation just got more dire."

Foster held his hips and muttered 'Jesus Christ' silently to himself before walking towards the board. "Get your team ready, we're gonna storm whatever building that fuck has them in."

Mike smiled. "Now we're doing the jobs we were meant to do."

Foster dialed called to attention the rest of the agents and cops who were at the headquarters. "This isn't a drill people, we've lost contact with our agents. Secure the lecture hall Agent Cortez Just reporter along with the Rainbow Operatives now. I want no one in or out of that campus!"

The headquarters began to suddenly explode with bodies moving around. The operators of Rainbow soon came to the planning room. Ryad was quick to ask the sitrep. "Where are we breaching first?"

"Hold your horses Ryad," Mike said. "We have Enatsu, Yi, and Weiss stuck in the building with the DHS Agent. Treat this as a hostage drill, and don't make any stupid moves! Our teammates lives are on the line, and we don't need any more body bags to send to their families."

"What about the team down in Mexico, what's their—"

"Don't worry on them! Just keep your focus on the task at hand, get your shit ready and go to the AT's."

The team understood and went straight for their gear in the level below, where they stored weapons and their supplies. Everyone looked solemn as they strapped in their gear and loaded their guns. This wasn't some unlucky civilian stuck in the middle of an attack, these were the teammates they trained with, bled with, fought with.

This only put them into a more focused vision. This wasn't just a job, this was now personal.

* * *

 **A/N: Tachanka, keep rocking.**

 **I wonder who'll die, and I wonder who'll live? Maybe it's extremely obvious, maybe it's a real twister, guess you have to find out…**

 **Also, mind the errors and mistakes. I'll eventually clean it up.**

 **If you haven't, check out my new Star Wars SYOC, I need two more rebels and five more Imperials! Read it for the rules! Don't forget to leave a review or follow!**

 **-Mister Bombastic**


	16. Operation Red Spring: Assault

Bowen knew that they'd come after they realized that their people would be missing. In that time, he managed to get any of the supporters in his building before the police had managed to blockade the whole area. With thirty people to fight, along with a dozen or so White Mask foot soldiers. Bowen knew that they police would eventually give up their blockade with his demands met.

There was already some disputing with the White Masks, he knew. The Masks were berating the followers for their lack of experience. Bowen paid no mind to it, he knew few on both sides would survive the consequence of their actions.

He made his way with two guards of his own personal choice down to the basement of the building. Bowen greeted two other revolutionaries who stood around the bounded operators that had painfully tried to infiltrate their group. He frowned at the four, the woman still unconscious with a bloodied bandage around her head.

"Have our teams in Mexico reported anything?"

"Not since last night."

"You won't get away with this," Cortez huffed, his face bruised from beatings. "This will end with you and all your followers dead!"

"Such violent talk," Bowen scoffed. "I would expect that from a class traitor."

"What do you know about class," Monika suddenly spoke up, her words dazed and winded. "You haven't lived in your glorious fantasy world."

Bowen looked down at her. His stare was as intense as her words. "You're German, aren't you?"

"What a deduction," Monika spat. "I've lived in East Germany, before and after unification. The West allowed people to strive and succeed in life, while under the GDR all I got was beatings for saying what they didn't agree with."

"What agency do you work for?" Bowen asked. It seemed obvious he didn't care for her life story. "I don't recall Germans working for the DHS."

"You're wasting your time," Mark called out. "By the time you get what you want you'll be in cuffs or dead."

"I recognize that voice," a White Mask guard. "I know these bastards."

"Who are they?" Bowen asked curiously. "I know they aren't from the U.S., except for him, anyways." He pointed at Cortez.

"It's Rainbow," the guard whispered in finding out who they were. "These guys are no joke. You better have a good plan."

The professor didn't reply back. Mark shouted at him again. "What's your master plan genius? Having all your followers dead?"

Bowen looked disparagingly at the Brit before walking to him. He lowered himself down and with an indifferent expression grabbed the bridge of his nose and pushed hard to the side. A sickening crunch was heard as Mark cried out in pain. Blood began to pour from his nose, Bowen wiping away any that spilled into his hand.

"I don't have time for this," Bowen muttered. He turned to the White Mask guards. "Keep guarding them until I say so, set up your barricades and whatever else and stay put. When I give the order, kill them."

The guard nodded and went back to his spot his weapon at hand. The other guard took out the metal wall reinforcements and began to lift them up and close them in, securing the soft wall with a strong barricade. The other guard then took a roll of razor wire and placed it carelessly around the floor. Ethan shook her head as to why they would take up a suicide mission. "You guys won't make the night, you know that right?"

They stopped and stared at the man until he started up again. "You'll die before the sun comes up! Just give up and surrender already."

They didn't take too kindly to that talk. One of the guards unslung his rifle and braced it back. With a smooth motion, Ethan saw the butt of the rifle and then nothing at all.

* * *

They arrived to an abandoned storage facility redesigned into a small office like base. There was few militiamen around, mostly keeping guard as Team Bravo tried to come up with a plan to further their mission of getting any information about the cartel. So far, they've got nothing to note.

"Have you been able to get into contact with anyone?" Carmen asked Eliza.

"No, I haven't been able to," Eliza replied. The connection was shotty at best, Eliza knew this. At the moment they were on their own. Even if Rainbow reinforcements did arrive, they would take a long while before they could reach all the way across the pond.

Mateo played around with his knives as the rest of the team discussed their new plan. They didn't really come up with any new ideas, and Mateo couldn't handle the situation. He broke away from his isolated corner to join in their planning.

"What's up, why are we taking forever?"

"We need a who, what, when, and where to actually do something," Dominic said. "So far who don't have any of those."

"We don't know much about the cartels whereabouts or their base of operations," Eliza responded. "We were hoping that you can fill us in, a recap if you will."

"Sure, I'll bite," Mateo smiled. "The only cartel that runs weapons in this city are the _Nuevo_ s _Rebeldes_ , a newer cartel just making their mark. Since they don't have any real authority beyond the city, it make sense hiring them to smuggle weapons. They don't have the eye of the government on them or more attention."

"So where do they operate?"

"Well, from what my men could gather, they run through a dance club. They use it as a front for their operations."

"That is all the information we need," Alexsandr spoke up. "Let us go."

"Don't you think we should know the name of the club first?" James said.

Mateo shrugged. "The name of the club is the simply called the _Club del Rebeldes_ , or just the Club of Rebels."

James chuckled. "Not very sound, naming a club after yourself when you're a criminal organization."

As the conversation began to derail Eliza cleared her throat, stopping the discourse of the team. "When do you think we move—"

" _Señor_!" A voice called out. One of the guards came up to Mateo with an urgent expression. " _Necesito tu atención_."

Mateo broke away from the group as the rest of the team looked up. Carmen frowned, the news seemed urgent by the expression on the messenger's face. It wasn't long until Mateo came back with hardened lines, quickly grabbing his gear from near the makeshift armory. "Time for planning is over people."

"What's happened?"

Mateo frowned gravely. "White Masks are attacking the club, police haven't been responding to calls yet."

"They must be covering up their tracks. We have to get there before they destroy all evidence."

The team began to climb from their seats and went to grab their gear. This mission kept getting worse and worse, they all knew it. Eliza hoped that morale would be boosted if they relaxed some more, but that wasn't the case. Simply there was too many people on the mission, too many lives at risk as well. She only could guess on what was happening up north.

Ela broke Eliza's train of thought when she nudged her back to reality. "Eliza, what's the plan?"

Eliza realized they're all staring at her, waiting for the next order. It'll be simpler if the plan was blunt and not overly complicated. "We'll infiltrate the club and eliminate any hostiles we encounter. If we can get any response from the rest of Rainbow we'll get the hell out of here."

James chuckled. "Simple, I like it."

Mateo motioned the team to outside, where trucks painted with the Militias logo waited for them. They boarded in quickly, guns ready for combat.

* * *

Thatcher and team arrived a few minutes later after the whole building was secured by an army of police, sirens and blockades blocking any civilian or news crew wandering in the scene. The old man looked around for Agent Foster, who seemed to be nowhere in sight. Instead he was met by the Police Chief of the city, standing tall and towering. "Who the hell are you?"

"That doesn't concern you, my team members are in there and I need a way to get in. Where's your SWAT captain?"

Agent Reed soon stepped between the Police Chief and Thatcher. She flipped open her badge. "Agent Reed, Homeland Security. This team is with us."

"He's over there," the Police Chief pointed towards the armored cars. "I hope this team is worth their salt."

They began to make their way to the assortment of armored cars. A man dressed in dark tactical gear came by and made himself known. "Captain Colson, Berkeley SWAT. We already have a plan set up to help your people out."

"Lay it on me then," Thatcher hurried. "We don't have much time."

"Our team will assist you in securing the first level of the building from the south wing, while you breach from the north wing."

"Don't forget this captain, we still have a man still lurking with the rest of the bastards. Under no regards are you to shoot him."

"How the hell will we know who's your guy?" The captain scoffed.

"He's asian, about five-eleven, and scrawny. Trust me, you'll know when you see him."

"Asian students make up forty percent of the student population, and I won't be surprised if there's asian students in there," the captain reported. "It'll be hard to differentiate him from the rest."

Despite what could be taken as a bigoted statement, he was right. Thatcher turned away and tried to contact Echo. After a few pensive rings, he picked up. "I said—"

"Shut the hell up and listen: Do not engage until you are recovered. Surrender yourself to the nearest SWAT agent you see and try to get the hell out of there."

Thatcher quickly hung up, and discussed the plan with the captain.

Cutter looked around nervously at the situation, this mission was more costlier than he ever did on his short time at Rainbow. It wasn't long until he saw X-ray stare pensively at the building, his eyes furrowed in thought. As if by a intrinsic call, Cutter found himself gravitating towards the man. "Hey, you alright?"

"Yes, just recalling similar missions of my past," X-ray replied. "Don't really want to talk about it Jon."

"Alright," Cutter backed off from anything mission related. Instead, he went to a more social attack, which really was only more awkward than before. "How's Mei Lin?"

"I don't know, why don't you ask her?"

Jon rolled his eyes. "Don't think that your crushes aren't as obvious as they already are. First Grace, Elena, and now—"

"I don't think about Elena or Grace. They're simply friends."

"Whatever you say cowboy," Cutter commented. "Just make sure you're more discreet. Thatcher is catching wind of it all. I'd recommend you keep it more on the downlow."

The conversation was quickly interrupted when they were called into the team with the SWAT police and Rainbow waiting patiently.

The mission was simple. The SWAT captain explained that Rainbow will attack from the back of the building, while the SWAT will charge from the front, distracting the enemies while Rainbow extracted the hostages. Simple attack really, a classic.

The team had no qualms about it, and they began to prep up. Suddenly, the building lost most of its power, with only a few telltale lights still on inside. They've cut the lights, and they just got a higher risk.

"Alright, get ready to move!" Thatcher commanded. "They don't have time for us to wonder about."

The team took a single black truck around the building, where there was surprisingly few windows for the enemies to cover. There was a single man guarding the fire escape on the back of the area, looking vigilantly around for any enemies. Thatcher took point, as always, and aimed his silence L85A1 to the man's head. He shot and his head turned into a dark mist. They moved up, the area seemingly clear. Thatcher raised a fist.

"Remember Echo is in there, if you see him, don't shoot."

"I'll try not to," Ying joked.

"Pulse, you're up."

Pulse quickly rushed to the front of the door with scanner in hand. He spit three heart beats, just a few meters away from the door. From the beats they were all scared beyond their minds, their pulses through the roof. "Spotted three tangos."

He moved away as Cutter placed a breaching charge on the door. They all backed away, some ready to pull the rings on their flashbangs. Thatcher pointed his hand, and Cutter pressed on the charge.

"Breach clear!"

The door exploded as metal and wood flew inside, the three defenders covering their faces as the shrapnel and heat attacked them. The three cried out, but didn't respond to Thatcher's barks to put their weapons down. As soon as they could they brought down their weapons. They weren't fast enough to pull their triggers, and were taken down by expertly placed shots into their chests.

They crumpled dead, their guns still cold. The team moved up the hallway, checking their corners and empty rooms. The flashlights of their guns shone through the black hallways and rooms, dust floating gently as gunfire echoed throughout the building, presumably from the SWAT team. Thatcher kept the team moving forward when they heard a sudden muffling from the room up ahead. Pulse quickly tried to scan, picking up a heartbeat. It wasn't like the other heartbeats, fast and hard, but instead it was calm and slow.

"Tango up ahead—"

Pulse was cut out as shotgun blasts destroyed the drywall, the debris flying towards them. He was lucky, the sensor managed to take some buckshot that would've opened up Pulse's head. Cutter and Thatcher quickly let a barrage enter the room, but the tango kept returning fire. Jackal quickly threw a smoke grenade and masked their presence from the Tango. He quickly activated his own scanner and saw the footprints lead to the room.

Under the smoke, Jackal sneaked his way to the hole that the tango made. His scanner noted that the enemy was just behind the thin wood door. Jackal aimed carefully and fired once, the body of the tango dropping to the floor.

The team recovered from their cover and quickly moved around the hallways. Thatcher inspected the body, the light on his gun revealing a disappointing reality. This was the corpse of a White Masks.

"Thatcher, looks like they're involved," Jackal notes.

"I can see that," Thatcher growled. "Keep moving, we need to find out where the hell everyone is."

The team began to move towards the hallway where a staircase lay. Sounds of footsteps rushed them to the walls for cover. Jackal activated his scanner but was unable to find any footsteps. X-ray switched on his specs and saw everything in blue and red. Behind the thin walls he saw two faint heat signatures, inching closer to the door. He quickly sprayed a few rounds into each of them, quick cries that died as soon as their heat signatures. "Targets down."

Thatcher motioned the team to the staircase, leading to the level above them and to the level below them, where the basement was located. Thatcher contacted the SWAT team on the other side of the building, who responded quickly.

"We haven't been able to locate the hostages, we believe they're downstairs."

"Understood," Thatcher replied. "Team, we're heading downstairs. X-ray, take point."

X-ray went to the front of the team and began to descend the stairs downstairs. He quickly hacked the corners of the staircase, his vision showing nothing but cold floors and concrete. The rest of the team began to climb the stairs and quickly flashed their lights on. X-ray stopped as he saw two rising temperatures come around the corner. Suddenly a black object was thrown into their end.

"Grenade!"

X-ray shielded who he could from the bomb. It exploded, but only flash shown. The goggles turned too bright for X-rays eyes as he cried out in pain, quickly lifting them up. Gunfire erupted between the end of the hallways, disorientation and confusion surrounding their senses. They began to retreat up the stairs, before Cutter threw a flash grenade to them. It banged and the enemies quickly recoiled back, firing randomly.

"Can't see!" Isaac gritted. "Can't see, someone take point."

Ying quickly helped Isaac to his feet. "C'mon, it's just a little light."

Thatcher went back to taking point and opened fire at whoever shot then down the hall. A round boomed near his head, and another hit his EMP on his holster. It exploded brilliantly, flinging Thatcher a few feet back and knocking out all their electronic devices, including the flashlights. They were left in the dark as gunfire returned.

"Pull back!" Thatcher yelled, firing a few rounds more. They saw their two shadowy silhouettes rush forward firing randomly from their hips. Amateur moves.

The air suctioned as the pulse blasted the two enemies into submission. They quickly cowered to the floor and held their heads in pain, Valkyrie and Cutter quickly rushing in and pinning them to the floor. They zip-tied them up, laying them down on the floor as they surrendered and cried.

Out from the corners of the hallway Echo quickly rushed to the team, his hands up as he held a flashlight in his hands. "I see that you must've missed me."

"You couldn't have done that earlier?" Dokkaebi complained, changing her magazine.

"Of course not," Echo said, "I was hiding."

Thatcher shoved a gun into his arms, clasping the gun reflexively. "Doesn't matter," Thatcher grunted, wiping off remnants of the blasted EMP, "get geared up and ready. Time to end this damn mission."

* * *

 **A/N: Oof, what a while, huh? Little shorter again, was gonna have it longer but I didn't want everyone waiting much more.**

 **Nothing really new, besides my schedule will be a little more hectic as school ends and graduation closes in. Don't know when the next chapter will come out, but it'll be a good one, an ending to Red Spring.**

 **Leave a review, and see you guys later.**

 **-Mister Bombastic**


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